The Xilian War Chronicles Part I
by Camdigidy
Summary: Godzilla attacks Tokyo in 1956 and again in 1985. When he returns, he is forced into a war that will take humanity into a new dark era. Loosely based on Godzilla: Final Wars. This story uses the basic story outline with new and expanded characters. Not sure when Part II will be done.
1. Ch 0

The Kaiju Epoch Saga

Book One: The Xilian War Chronicles

Part One: The Dusk of Peace

Prologue

From the memoirs of Steve Martin, November 3rd, 2004:

"I'm having the nightmares of the island again. This is just like before.

Knowing that that monster still roams the earth terrifies me more than anything else. I can still remember that night back in 1956 like it was last night. I've always thought a different man woke up in the rubble the morning after.

And I would always have nightmares after that night, but none of them were as vivid or peculiar as the ones I had in 1985. It was more than a dream or a vision; it was as if I was teleported. I was in a boat in the middle of a terrible storm. I looked up and saw an island. It reminded me of the storm on Odo Island so many nights ago, but this wasn't Odo Island.

Lightning struck the island repeatedly. And with each strike, the island illuminated brighter and brighter with a blue light.

I recognised that light. It was his. And then I heard him. That horrible cry is unmistakable.

Somehow I knew he was coming back. And I was right.

And now I'm having the same vision. I pray that I'm just a crazy old man. I never want my son or his children to live through that.

I'm growing tired. I've been feeling weaker each day. The doctors are telling me I'm looking good, but I'm a journalist. I can read people.

In case this is the last thing I write, and if my family reads any of my memoirs, I want my son, Robert, to know that no man has ever made me prouder. I wish my grandson, Vincent, luck in his college career. I know he's destined for great things. The same goes for little Taylor. She'll grow up to be a beautiful and amazing woman.

In what may be my final days, I think I've come to a revelation. The monster I've feared for all this time can't be some mindless killing machine. There's more to him than that. I hope all of mankind can learn from him. It may be that a creature with such power is the key to saving us all."

This was Steve Martin's final memoir. He died in his home shortly after.

November 12th: "G" is sighted in Antarctica. The creature is confronted by the United Nations' military along with the airship, Gotengo I.

G is sealed away within a deep crevasse filled with snow and ice. It is monitored 24 hours a day.


	2. Ch 1

Chapter 1

Awakening

A blinding flash of lightning reveals a dark island in the distance. Thunder roars across the blackened sky. The rain is heavy and the waves are harsh. Another bolt strikes the island, then another, and then one greater than its predecessors. The lightning halts, but the thunder sings on.

There is not a single ounce of light. For a long time, pitch black is the only view. Far away in the distance, a bright blue light illuminates from the dreaded island. It grows ever brighter. A faint electrical-like hum can be heard.

A full silhouette of the island can be seen. The storm still rages, but there is still no sign of lighting or thunder, as if the heavens were fearful of striking in the presence of the source of this great blue light.

A sound comes from the island, a faint groan, like an alligator's growl. Then there is another growl, but louder this time. After a brief pause, there is a deafening roar, louder than the thunder itself. It can only be described as an elephant cry crossed with that of an enormous dinosaur. It was the roar of the monster that the entire world had come to fear. It was the cry of Godzilla.

The shock wave of the cry formed ripples in the water as it spread in all directions.

*

Vincent Martin's eyes shot open. He rose from his bed, soon realizing that he was covered in a cold sweat.

Vincent thought at times that something must be horribly wrong with a thirty five year old man who still has so very much shaken by bad dreams. He had had nightmares of this sort before, but this one in particular felt incredibly real.

When he was a child, he would have extensive night terrors about the monster. He loved staying at his Grandpa Steve's house, but he didn't like it when his grandfather would go off on to one of his rants about the time he encountered Godzilla back in 1956. This was the main source of his night terrors as a child.

Little Vincent's horrible nightmares of Godzilla had subsided when his grandfather died. That was the end of the worst of it, that is. Vincent still had such nightmares occasionally.

Vincent made his way to the shower in his studio style living quarters.

He lived in a scientific research base funded by the United Nations. Designated G-Base, it was located in Antarctica. Vincent was one of the head researchers at G-Base. The research base was underground for the most part. Vincent seldom saw sunlight even though the sun was out for several months at a time. The base was where it was and had who it had for a very specific and a top secret reason.

He was lucky enough to have hot water in the shower today. Five days out of the week, the water is lukewarm. As the hot water washed over his body, it washed away the details of the nightmare until it was but a vague memory. But such nightmares continued to bother him even long after he had forgotten the dreams themselves. When he was a child, the threats within the nightmares went away as soon as he woke up. Now, when he awoke, the threat did not remain locked away in his mind. The threat was always no more than a mile away. That fear that had haunted Vincent both in and out of his dreams was Godzilla.

That was partly the purpose of the base. That was why Vincent was here. He was here to study the great monster as it lay dormant under the surface.

Vincent had gotten dressed in heavy cloths and a lab coat. He then headed towards the monorail station. The living quarters, offices, meeting rooms, and other facilities were located roughly a mile away from Site-G, the resting place of the monster. The research facilities were located at Site-G. This is where Vincent worked and where he was headed today. He sat on a bench at the station waiting for the train to arrive.

He had noticed his friend and work associate Douglas Gordon walking towards him. He was a well-built man in his late twenties with a mustache. He was the head engineer for the base. He desperately wanted to work at the base soon after it was constructed. The reason was the same as Vincent's: he had a fascination with Godzilla. And being onboard the Gotengo I during its last mission had the perk of getting any job one desired.

Gordon sat next to Vincent and started an idle conversation. "How you doin', Vince?"

"Big day today. We've got more cells last night. Hopefully we can test our regenerative cell hypothesis."

"Man, I don't even want to think about something like that. I don't want to fight something that heals as fast as you say." Gordon leaned back against the wall, and put his hands behind his head leisurely.

"Oh, so you're just afraid of losing a fight?" Vincent joked. But then he grew serious. "He's alive and he's right there. From what my grandfather told me about him, he should have the strength to burst clear through the ice effortlessly. People fear the unknown. And not knowing what exactly is keeping him in hibernation terrifies me.

Gordon grew a grin on his face. "You know, I'd actually like to see that lizard get up so the Gotengo II can kick his ass. The full metal missiles she's equipped with would go through Godzilla like crap through a goose!" he said proudly.

Vincent only raised an eyebrow and cracked half a smile at the comment.

*

The mysterious beast floated motionlessly through the darkness of space. With a powerful and sure posture, the monster had its gaze upon Earth with lust and desire. From within its grey bone like helm, insidious red eyes peered through.

This alien menace, this Monster X, had an almost humanoid figure. Beneath sections of bony armor was what looked like black skin. It had a long tail that forked into two at the end. Its head was long and almost resembled that of a dragon's in shape with two vertically placed horns in the center of its forehead. On each of its shoulders rested a half, less developed head. And on the back of its head and neck was a flowing golden mane that floated eerily in the zero gravity.

The monster hovered hundreds of miles above the continent of Antarctica. It felt the smallest pulse of energy come from the area. With exposed pointed teeth, the monster snarled angrily. With unseen propulsion, it rocketed towards the tiny unsuspecting planet. At this point in its scheme, only one objective was important: eliminate the one and only thing that could stop it.

*

The girls gasped. They could sense him approaching. They knew he would come and they knew what he was bringing with him. They also knew that there was nothing they could do to fully prepare. All they could do was pray.

These two young girls, identical twins, ran out of their meditation area and yelled for their servant. "Servant!" they yelled in unison. As soon as their address was heard, a man came forth. He was pacific islander with not much more than a loin cloth around his waist. The man towered over the girls. He was five times their size. The man was only a bit over five feet. The twins stood a mere twelve inches.

They were the Shobijin. The miniature identical twins were the guardians of Infant Island, a small island in the south Pacific. The island was lush and thick with vegetation. It was home to the most beautiful and rarest of flowers, delicious fruit, and the natives who worshiped the Shobijin and the great being they communicated with.

It would be inappropriate to call the Shobijin "them" or "the two girls" since they were two halves of a single conciseness; a single being. The natives always referred to the Shobijin formally even out of their presence.

The servant lowered a small cushioned pad to the ground and the tiny girls climbed on. "Take us to the Great Chamber at once!" the girls demanded with urgency. They were usually very kind and polite to their servants and worshipers, treating them almost as equals, but there was no time for polite gestures or comments with such a grave terror approaching. The servant ran as he was ordered with the Shobijin in hands. He entered the Great Chamber, an enormous cave with a huge opening in the top. He lowered his head in respect for what sat resting on a plateau in the middle of the cave.

What sat peacefully in the chamber was the great being Mothra. It was an immense insect with the most beautifully colored wings of red, orange, yellow, and black.

Mothra was the Earth's goddess of peace. She had existed long before the Earth was born. Her exact origins were vague and mostly unknown even to the Shobijin.

Mothra looked down at her correspondents as they knelt before her. They looked up in panic and with their hands together in prayer. By telepathic means, the Shobijin communicated with the great moth.

"So, you feel him too?" Mothra asked.

"Yes!" the Shobijin replied. "The people can sense it too. They claim to have vivid dreams of our island glowing bright blue."

"I see. I've been expecting this day. It was all a matter of time."

"What are we going to do?"

"We have an ally, my dear. I expect him to be reluctant, but all of us will be part of this looming war whether we want to or not."

*

He rested in the ice, hibernating. He dreamt of a time long ago when he was young. He remembered those peaceful times when he could dive faster and deeper than any of his relatives. He was never alone. His pod was always by his side.

Then a voice interrupted his bliss.

"Gojira…," an elderly feminine voice rang in his head. "Gojira…"

His mind became alert in response to the beckoning.

"You must awaken, Gojira. We both know you can easily escape your icy tomb. Why do you lie dormant?"

He did not wish to be in that cruel world anymore. He could never go onto land without being attacked. He only wanted to hibernate here until he needed to feed again.

"You are needed. Your world is in danger."

He did not care about the rest of a world he was not part of anymore.

"An invader approaches. It lusts for the Earth and first intends to kill the one thing capable of stopping it! That is you! It is on its way here right now to destroy you… and the one you call your son."

*

Douglas Gordon was standing by a water cooler hitting on a young female Japanese researcher. "How did a cute lil' thing like you get a position here at the base? You must be pretty bright."

"Top of my class at the University of Tokyo," the girl replied in fairly well English.

"Nice. You got any family or a boyfriend waitin' on you back home?"

"My only family are my parents and a sister. No boyfriend. I have not had any relations for a long time. I get a little lonely at times," she said an alluring tone.

"Oh really? Well I haven't really wanted to get to know many of the other dorks here. Maybe you and I should… hang out more often."

The woman giggled cheerfully. Gordon gave a small smile with easy eyes. Just as he was about to propose a time to meet his lovely new friend, his communicator buzzed. He gave an aggravated grunt and answered it.

"This is Gordon. What is it?"

The voice on the other end was that of younger subordinate of Gordon's. "Mr. Gorgon, it's Eric, I think there's some interference with some of the equipment over here in the observation room. Are you able to come and check it out?"

"Yah, I'll be over in a few minutes. Out." He headed out of the room, but not before turning to the woman and saying "I'll catch you later, hun'," and threw her a wink before leaving.

In the observation room, Gordon and his assistant, Eric, examined the Geiger counter equipment. A few of the researchers eyed them curiously. After looking over the system repeatedly, Gordon found no problems with the equipment.

"Kid, this equipment is running fine," Gordon grew concerned. "Go get Doctor Martin."

Vincent Martin arrived shortly.

"How long ago did it start picking up?" Vincent asked sternly.

"Ten minutes, maybe," Gordon answered.

Vincent addressed the entire room. "Attention all personnel! We are now on full alert. I want everyone at their stations. I want every bit of information documented. It is of the utmost importance that we all remain calm." He turned back to Gordon. "Gordon, can you take care of radioing the UN? Tell them to simply be on alert. No action is necessary at this time. Got that?"

"Sure do." And Gordon promptly left. On his way out, he turned to Eric and said "Yu' weren't expecting shit like this to be goin' down, were you, kid?" with a grin on his face.

Vincent has seen Gordon under pressure before. He wondered how and why he smiles and seems to be happy in dire situations. He thought Gordon would be a much better leader than he could be. While he thought he was doing a fine job so far, there was still a lack in self-confidence subtly present in his voice.

Thirty minutes passed. The Geiger counter was still crackling wildly. Heat signatures had also risen slightly.

Then the whole base was hit with a small tremor. Everyone froze, awaiting some other kind of event. An event is what they would receive.

"Sir, we have an extreme radiation spike! It's not stopping!" yelled one of the men monitoring the subject.

"Heat signatures are increasing as well!" yelled another.

"Give me a visual of the subject from the surface," commanded Vincent. A video feed appeared on the massive monitor before the scientists. The area of ice that imprisoned the giant, under a football stadium style dome, began to crack and melt from the heat building up from underneath.

Blue lights a burst out from the ice and the hum of power grew strong. Upon seeing this nightmare unfold, Vincent stepped backwards in fear until he was against the wall.

With a deafening explosion, a blue stream of radioactive fire erupted up from the ground. The ice surrounding the blast was instantly melted or blown away. The beam then took out the side of the cliff which the radio antenna was mounted on. Many of the people witnessing this on the display ran out of the room.

"Remain calm and return to your positions!" demanded Vincent in vain, "We're safe right here!" Any faith in what he had just said was erased by the engulfing cry that was Godzilla's. Within a few seconds, the observation room was empty.

He bolted for the door and sprinted down the hallway. He saw Gordon making his way back.

"Vincent, I couldn't get a signal out. What the hell is going on?!" Gordon frantically asked.

"Just run!" answered Vincent. Gordon immediately followed. They saw people trying to cram into the monorail. "Don't take the rail, you idiots, take the tunnel!" Vincent tried to tell the others.

Outside, a monstrous hand reached out and grabbed the edge of the hole in the ice. The monster pulled itself up into the sunlight. It's great dorsal spines glistened with beauty. Its charcoal grey, rocky skin contrasted the white ice and snow of the landscape. He stood nearly three hundred and twenty feet tall. The beast released another roar, announcing his return to the world. Godzilla had awakened.

Vincent could hear footsteps from the surface. The ground and the subterranean structure buckled under the tremendous weight of the fifty-five thousand ton beast. The observation room that Vincent was in just a moment ago could be heard collapsing underneath a gargantuan foot. Fissures formed in the ceiling over Vincent and Gordon's heads.

Godzilla's foot came down and broke through the ground. He then felt something strike his heel, causing him minor pain, but still angering him due to his mood after just waking up. After turning and plunging his hand into the ground, he pulled up a monorail with screaming passengers aboard. The passenger car went into Godzilla's maw where he bit down and tore it from the other cars.

Like a piece of trash, the monorail cars in the beast's grasp were tossed away, killing all onboard. The car in beast's bite was thrown aside as well.

Godzilla then inhaled the cold Antarctic air and calmed down. After taking a second to think, he turned his head and began walking in that direction, away from the rest of the research base.

Vincent, Gordon, and a few other researchers and workers had stopped running after they heard the monster leave the area. The ceiling was now open to the sky. This quickly made the whole base freezing cold, making it hard for the group to catch their breath.

"Is anyone here hurt?" Vincent asked, being sure to include the word "here" as to not sound stupid since he knew that the majority of the base's staff was most likely dead.

A female researcher tried to stand up right, "Ah!" Gordon caught her before she fell to the ground, "I twisted my ankle."

"You can hold onto me until we find something to make you a brace," Gordon proposed.

The woman looked up at Gordon. She was the one he had talked to before he got the call to go check out the Geiger equipment. A grin appeared on his face.

"Thank you very much." She replied, wanting to smile, but still somewhat in shock.

Vincent then formed a loose course of action. "First thing we need to do is get somewhere warm. This part of the base is open to the outside air. We can't stop moving. Let's go."


	3. Ch 2

Chapter 2

Cold Heir

The reawakened Godzilla marched across the frozen tundra of Antarctica. The sun hit his dorsal spines, giving them a slight orange glow. With each step, Godzilla felt the thick ice buckle and crack beneath his feet.

He reached the side of a mountain. In this mountain was a large crevasse filled with heavy snow.

Godzilla began to dig, not with intentions of digging a hole, but to carefully excavate something precious.

Underneath the layers of ice and snow was a pudgy thing with dark grey skin. Godzilla's dorsal spines dimly illuminated before he released radioactive heat from his mouth. It was a much weaker form of his atomic fire, like a mother alligator's powerful jaw gently carrying her young.

The snow and ice melted away to reveal something almost resembling himself, but one third the size. It shifted around as if not wanting to get up. Not willing to wait until the small thing felt like awaking by his own accord, Godzilla stuck his head into the crevasse and released a roar that caused several avalanches on the mountain.

The mini monster shot open his eyes and stood up, butting heads with his larger counterpart accidentally.

An avalanche of snow fell off his head, but he shook it off. He looked around confused.

Godzilla grabbed the little one, yanked him out of the mountain, and threw him into the open of Antarctica. He then tried to run back into the crevasse out of the wind chill, but Godzilla kicked him back down before roaring at him again to cooperate.

The young Minilla, adopted son of Godzilla, looked up at his father and stood still. After a moment of cold air, Godzilla walked over to the little one, knelt down and embraced him. His dorsal spines glowed, warming both of them.

Minilla was not yet developed enough to generate the kind of radioactive heat that Godzilla was capable of. It was unlikely that Minilla would be able to obtain the level of power that Godzilla possessed from heavy mutation, yet his stern guardian trained him regularly with such expectations.

Minilla's company and rearing gave Godzilla a sense of purpose. It filled a hole in his life of solitude before he had discovered the child.

Godzilla headed towards the shore, Minilla trotting close behind.

Back at the ruins of Site G, Vincent, Gordon, and the few other survivors had made camp in the sleeping quarters. Mattresses were piled up around the door in order to keep the precious warm air are in.

"I'm Gordon, if I hadn't formally introduced myself yet." Gordon introduced himself to the young female researcher as he kneeled in front of her, tightly wrapping medical bandage he had found in the nurse's office around her sprained ankle.

"I'm Yukie Nakama. Thank you very much for your help." She winced in pain a little as Gordon's strong hands applied the bandage.

"I'm just being a gentleman, Miss Yukie. I suppose you could thank Godzilla for not crushing the medical bay." He said with a bit of a smile.

"How can you smile at all at a time like this?" Yukie asked as reality rushed back to her.

After a second to think, Gordon replied, "I guess I'm the kind a guy that takes things as they come. No point in feeling bad over something none of us could have stopped. We couldn't have even gotten everyone out of the facility in time. The radiation spike came out of nowhere and then…"

"Well, rescue is on its way, right? Wasn't a distress signal sent?" Miss Yukie hoped.

Gordon had to erase that hope, "No, It could be a week before they even think of sending someone. The radio antenna must have been taken out before I could send the distress call." He continued to wrap Yukie's angle. "I guess it's not easy to smile when you've doomed everybody."

"Hey! Don't think that you've doomed us. We'll figure a way out of this." Yukie exclaimed. "Keep that cute chin up."

Yukie's little compliment gave Gordon his smile back for a second, but it soon ran away again. "It's not easy to take everything as it comes. I just wish I could have saved him. He was right behind me."

"Who?" pondered Yukie.

"Eric, he was my assistant. He was just a kid out of technical school. The ceiling fell and… he was right behind me."

"It's not your fault, Gordon."

"I've been trying to tell myself that."

Vincent then interrupted them. "Gordon, you said you weren't able to send the distress signal out?"

"No, I couldn't get any kind of signal out."

"Jesus Christ!" Vincent cursed, "They'll know something is up eventually, but every minute counts now! We need to contact someone. Gordon, is there another radio on base?"

"We still have the emergency ham radio, yeah. But it'll be a bit of a hike."

"The UN needs to know. We don't have a choice."

Godzilla and son were near the end of their trek through the cold wasteland.

Just a few miles ahead lay the ocean. Godzilla longed to swim in the vast ocean again. He felt most at home there. In the ocean, he could swim at speeds up to ninety knots. Nature tends to make large animals move very slowly, but Godzilla is not a product of nature.

After hibernating for so long, Godzilla was very hungry. The food he had stored in his body was depleted. He was hoping not to run into any more enemies until had gotten his energy back up.

Godzilla stopped and lifted his head in attention.

Minilla, inattentive, walked into his father's back and stumbled.

Godzilla's senses were all sharpened. Something was wrong. Godzilla felt a threat, something extremely powerful, and sinister. It was coming. He swung around to see if anything was following him, there was nothing but his worried looking son.

After a moment, Godzilla signaled Minilla to keep moving, and the two continued on.

Vincent and Gordon, covered in as many layers of clothes they could find, made their way up to the surface. From there, they walked nearly a mile to the research base.

Once inside, they found it to be still very cold.

From there, they descended into the storage rooms below the base.

"Here she is!" Gordon exclaimed as he pulled out the old radio. I ever tell you my dad had one of these? I loved it!"

"Tell me all about it later, pal. Godzilla isn't slowing down any."

Vincent pulled up the generator. And put gasoline in it. With a hard yank of the cord, the generator started up along with the radio.

Gordon sat down in front of the radio, wore the headphones, and tuned into the emergency frequency.

"Mayday, mayday! Does anyone read?" He waited a moment and repeated "Mayday, mayday!"

"Identify yourself," a voice came in through the radio.

"This is Douglas Gordon of Site G. We are reporting that G has flown. The subject has left the area and was last know to be heading north east."

Meanwhile, with Godzilla and Minilla, the two marched over a great frozen lake.

Then Minilla let out a cry. Godzilla turned around the see what was the matter. Minilla was looking to the sky as something was falling towards them.

A blinding explosion of light appeared in the sky to the north. Godzilla swung back around to gaze at the unsettling spectacle. The clouds around the burst of light were spread far apart by the shock wave. Godzilla felt the force of the explosion brush against his face.

Out of the heart of the blast, came an object. It was some kind of long gigantic form, almost four hundred feet in length. As the gargantuan thing streaked down to the Earth at an angle, it was followed by a long tail of smoke.

Godzilla watched as the thing flew off into the distance, and eventually crashing into the Earth. It kicked up several tons of ice, rock, and snow high into the air.

Godzilla didn't like it, he watched it intensely. Minilla grew very scared and moved closer to Godzilla. Godzilla waited, staring at the base of the pillar of smoke slowly rising to the sky. He stood without motion. Legs firmly planted, tail at rest, brow lowered, face static, eyes dead ahead.

A small explosion came from the smoldering crater. Godzilla now heard something moving around inside the hole, clawing away at the ice and rock.

The air was still very quiet, very still. Godzilla turned to Minilla and roared at him and motioned his head to the shore.

Minilla hesitated. He wanted to fight alongside his father, but Godzilla roared at him again. Minilla obeyed, trotting off over a small mountain range.

Godzilla's attention returned to the suspected adversary. He cried out to it in hopes of a response. Then, like the firing of a gun, some kind of large form sped towards Godzilla from underneath the frozen lake's surface. Godzilla could see the creature speed towards him as the ice was forced upwards to the surface.

Even as the bulging crack speeded at Godzilla, he still stood his ground. Closer and closer it grew every second, closer and faster. One mile from Godzilla, half mile, quarter mile. Godzilla finally moved one of his feet and took one step back.

Just before the raging monster reached Godzilla, it stopped. It was like the creature underneath had vanished.

Godzilla stood in attack pose. He glared at the ground around him, expecting the unknown thing to burst up through the ground.

Then Godzilla heard movement, he shot his head down, it was right underneath him.

He quickly jumped backwards into the air. The ground where Godzilla stood exploded up, and out came a horrid beast. It jumped out of the ice and had its claws and knees risen in a martial arts manner.

Godzilla finally saw this new mystery monster. The most dreadful thing about the beast were its eyes, they seemed to be sunk into the face, being shadowed. They had no pupils; they were like red rubies, almost seeming to glow. Monster X had his dark eyes on Godzilla.

After exploding from beneath, the mysterious Monster X came to its feet, straddling the large hole it had just made. As it stood there, it leaned forward just slightly, glaring fearsomely into Godzilla's eyes. Godzilla still didn't know who or what this monster was, but he got the feeling that it wanted to tear his throat out.

Godzilla and Monster X glared at one another. Godzilla's eyes: a fiery rage. Monster X: a pure dead evil. They both slowly and cautiously leaned towards one another; tensions rising, teeth snarling.

Like a force finally shattering a pane of glass, Monster X could not resist the battle. With a hideous deep roar, Monster X lunged at Godzilla, swiping one of his claws at him. Godzilla's patience gave him the chance to grab Monster X's claw before it hit his face. With teeth snarling, the evil beast swung his other claw at Godzilla, only to have it caught in his opponents other hand.

Monster X released another hateful roar at Godzilla. He lifted his foot and placed it against Godzilla's abdomen. With a forceful kick from, Godzilla was torn from his attacker and sent sliding across the icy lake, but he did not fall down. His toenails clawing the surface.

Monster X darted forward.

Godzilla regained his balance and threw a roar back. He then began to run towards Monster X. The ice fractured severely beneath his stomping feet.

Monster X thrust his claw forward and grabbed the charging Godzilla right by the throat.

Godzilla felt as if he had run into a wall. Monster X's arm didn't buckle a bit when it grasped its prize. His grasp grew tighter as it both trapped Godzilla, and strangled him. Godzilla tried to pull away, but Monster X's stiff arm would not move.

Monster X stared into Godzilla with an evil glee. The mad monster then lifted Godzilla off the ground with his one hand. Godzilla struggled frantically to breath, both his hands tried to tear the beast away, but to no avail. His eyes began to roll back. His mouth was gaping, but not a sound came from it. His tail continuously slammed the ground.

Monster X, with a sick sense of joy, teased Godzilla by allowing his toenails to just scratch the ground as he tried to kick himself up.

Soon, Godzilla began to slow down, his arms fell, his tail hung limp. Godzilla dangled in the beast's grasp, death racing ever closer.

Just then, Monster X's focus was broken when a ring of smoke hit him in the face, blinding his vision, burning his eyes, and choking his breath.

Minilla ducked back behind a cliff before his father's nemesis spotted him. The weakened monster tried to bat away the smoke with one hand. He then threw Godzilla with incredible strength and power. Godzilla went flying at least four hundred feet away from the hulking beast.

In mid air, Godzilla quickly took a deep reviving breath and his dorsal spines began to illuminate bright blue. With a quaking crash, Godzilla fell to the ground which cracked and buckled under his weight. Godzilla lifted his head and looked at his nemesis. His awesome power built up within him, blue fire leaked from his maw.

Still on his back, the heat grew strong in his spines, soon weakening the fractured ice beneath him. The icy ground collapsed into the lake it sealed underneath, Godzilla with it. The heat from his back struck the water, sending up steam before Godzilla disappeared underneath the frigid water.

All Monster X could see was a large dark hole.

A burning rage erupted inside Monster X. He had let Godzilla slip away when he had him in his grasp. He cursed his foolishness and unleashed a hideous roar of anger.

But to Monster X's surprise, the battle was not yet over. The water in the hole illuminated and boiled. Monster X's eyes widened. A bright blast of energy busted out of the ice in front of Monster X. Great chunks of ice were forced outward.

The beam collided with Monster X's chest. He stumbled backwards from the great force and roared out in pain as the atomic fire charred his flesh.

Monster X stood motionless, silent, and pissed. His entire top half was coated in black soot and was slightly smoldering. He bared his many sharp white teeth. The maddened monster quickly began running at a sprint, towards the now steaming water hole. He leaped in, feet first.

Every inch of his skin was suddenly struck with numbing coldness, though it did relieve him of the pain inflicted from Godzilla's atomic blast. He saw Godzilla swim frantically away like an alligator.

Godzilla was too weak, too hungry. Trying to fight would be far too foolish.

Monster X chased after his prey, he swam somewhat like an otter or seal.

Both monsters raced under the ice. They were swimming the same race, but each had a different goal. Monster X's goal appeared to be very close; Godzilla's seemed to not even be within range. Monster X quickly shortened the gap between him and the tired and hungry monster. Godzilla looked back at his hunter, realizing that running was not an option.

Monster X was now within attack range. He gained speed and reached out to grab Godzilla's tail with both claws. Godzilla was suddenly halted and yanked back.

Godzilla might stand a chance if he could use his atomic blast, that is if he were fighting from a distance, but there was no way he could fight tooth and nail. He had to think quickly. Monster X would not let go of his tail. Godzilla rolled his body forward. Monster X, reluctant to release Godzilla's tail, was smashed up into ice above. Godzilla was released and continued his escape. Though he feared Monster X would only assault him in the next few moments. He would attempt to lose this beast in the dark abyss of the ocean floor if he had to.

Monster X had been stunned from the great blow. He glared angrily at his escaping prize.

Godzilla returned to the hole he had made and took in a breath. Climbing out onto the surface, Godzilla collapsed from exhaustion.

Everything was hazy. His vision was spinning. What up was was not so clear.

He saw Monster X burst up from the ice and walk casually towards him. His enemy raised a claw and readied to strike.

But before the strike could be delivered, the small Minilla jumped between the two monsters. He covered his father with his arms and roared up at Monster X.

Monster X bellowed an intimidating roar down at the little kaiju.

Minilla refused to move. He was determined to me brave and stand strong like his father.

Godzilla saw his son's bravery. He tried to push him away, but his arm was too weak.

Monster X did it for him. He grabbed the young monster by the arm and tossed him aside.

Minilla let out a reluctant cry.

Monster X was about to attack, but was yet again interrupted by Minilla who grabbed ahold of his leg and bit it. Despite being young, his teeth were developed enough to deliver a nasty wound.

But bites were not going to stop the bloodthirsty beast. Monster X backhanded Minilla.

Minilla inhaled and released another ring of hot smoke directly into Monster X's face.

Monster X was fed up. He lifted his leg. Then, with the force resembling that of a horse to a human, Monster X delivered a powerful kick to Minilla's chest.

The young kaiju let out a quick cry of pain and went flying like a tossed doll. He landed a few hundred feet away.

Godzilla raised his head. His rage was hot enough give him the strength get up, but everything went black when a fist came smashing down on his head.

Godzilla was knocked out. He laid motionless on the ice with his mouth agape.

Monster X gave a menacing growl. He was going to finish what he had came to do. He braced himself and clenched his fists, his eyes changed from a crimson red to a shining yellow. Yellow light spewed from his mouth too.

Then he heard something in the sky. It sounded like a clap of thunder.

The yellow light faded from his eyes and they went back to red.

He looked up at the sky. Thick clouds were forming. They gathered above the monsters. Lightning and thunder clashed within the converging clouds.

These peculiar clouds slowly began to circulate and snake their way down.

It looked as if a massive tornado was forming directly over Monster X.

The dense and dark cyclone touched down with extreme suddenness and speed right in between Monster X and the fallen Godzilla.

Monster X leaped back out of the way.

Then, just as quickly it had descended, it dissipated.

Revealing itself in place of the tornado was Mothra. She was as big as either of the other two monsters. She had a wingspan of seven hundred feet.

The great moth had vibrant and colorful wings of red, orange, and yellow that seemed to glow in the setting sunlight. Her eyes were like gems of the deepest blue. The white and black fur that covered her body flowed in the wind like tall grass on a windy plain. She hovered just over the fallen Godzilla and gave a screech. She was not going to let any more harm come to Godzilla.

Monster X glared at Mothra and unleashed a roar of rage and despise.

Then, through telepathic means, Monster X spoke to Mothra.

"Mosura! You know I could tear your wings off in an instant! Leave now and I may spare you!"

Mothra did not obey. Instead, she began to flap her wings. As she flapped, little sparks flashed in the air. Then, with one more big flap, a hundred bright blue bolts of lightning shot forth and assaulted Monster X.

The bolts licked at Monster X's armor as he roared out in pain. He had to take several steps back.

With a screech, Mothra ceased her assault. She flapped her wings with immense force and launched up into the sky.

Monster X lowered his hands from his face and roared up at her.

Like a bullet being fired, the devil flew up towards the heavens as well.

Faster and faster she flapped her wings and higher and higher she soared. As she went through cloud after cloud, she left a white dash in the sky behind her.

In the next moment, she was high above the earth in the stratosphere. She began to break from Earth's gravity.

When she was younger, she could break from gravity with little trouble. Being much older, doing such things became much harder. She worked her aged wings until she feared that they would break off. She flapped until she did not feel the Earth pulling at her any longer.

Mothra no longer needed to flap her wings. She had a special ability that very few beings possessed. She could warp the space around her allowing her to travel in no atmosphere. She used it to a small degree to fly on earth, but relying completely on it within an atmosphere would consume too much of her energy. The ability allowed her to travel to the moon in a matter of moments.

Monster X, slowly closing in behind her, had this same ability. He was significantly stronger.

With no air resistance hindering them, the two achieved supersonic speeds.

Mothra's ageing body couldn't keep the pace up. She began to decelerate halfway between Earth and the Moon.

Monster X's body, however, knew no age. The distance to his adversary decreased.

He caught up and slammed into Mothra with his armored shoulder.

Mothra fluttered frantically in an attempt to escape the tumble she had been thrown into. Her cries fell silent in the vacuum of space.

While violently grabbing her head, Monster X began clawing at Mothra's wings.

She reacted by releasing surges of electricity through them. The shock traveled into Monster X's claws and through his body, knocking him back. He was paralyzed momentarily.

It allowed Mothra to escape. She flew up and around so she was behind Monster X where she then released her lightning once again.

Monster X's back arched as his whole body convulsed. She pumped electricity into Monster X for as long as she could. She was old and became worn out quicker than she used to.

After Monster X was done smoldering, he turned around to face the tired moth. His eyes looked more red and dreadful that they usually did.

"Mosura," Monster X began, "you old mighty thing. I see you draw near the end of a life cycle. What possessed you to expose yourself in such a condition?"

"What possessed you to return?! We banished you!" A tired Mothra replied.

"'We?' Who's 'we?' Bagan can't defend you now."

Monster X held up his claw and looked at it.

"And I return," he continued, "because this imprisoning form disallows me to travel anywhere else. I have you to thank for that."

Mothra attempted to make a surprise attack. She charged. Her wings surged with lightning.

Monster X was fast too. He charged.

The two clashed with the force of two tidal waves, but Monster X had more power. He grabbed onto Mothra and the two went hurtling towards the moon at incredible speed.

They landed heavily in the lunar Sea of Crises. Moon dust and rocks were thrown far out into space. Monster X stumbled to his feet to see Mothra floating in front of him.

"I hold more power than is apparent," Mothra stated, "Leave here, menace!"

"Mosura, please," Monster X said as he slowly approached Mothra, "I don't want to kill you. I never have. I seek the same goals as you. I have a poor and struggling space faring people in need of a home. Join me, Mosura, and we can bring harmony to both human and Xilian."

"Don't insult me by taking me for a fool! You seek only death and nothingness!" Mothra yelled before unleashing more lighting from her wings. The storm struck the lunar surface as well as its target. Moon dust was kicked up.

When the lightning stopped, Monster X leaped out of the cloud of moon dust. Mothra was gone.

"A coward as always," he said by himself. He flew up high above the moon. His opponent was gone. She was fast when she needed to be.

A snow storm was brewing.

Godzilla's eyes shot open. He was confused and hadn't quite made out what had happened. Where was his advisairy? Then he remembered Minilla.

Godzilla quickly picked himself up and looked around.

The great monster that had laid waste to cities, the awesome beast that was thought to be indestructible, the towering tyrant that the world had come to fear could now only stand numbly in dismay at the sight of his son lying face down on the snow.

He made the agonizing march towards his fallen Minilla. His heart felt heavy as he waited desperately for his son to move. He didn't.

He then knelt down and scooped the little one into his now weak and trembling arms.

To his horror, his son was still alive, only holding on by the thinnest thread. He breathed weakly. His eyes struggled to stay open. The father and son looked longingly into one another's eyes. Minilla made a quiet whimper and tried to reach up to his father's face.

Godzilla took Minilla's reaching arm, not wanting him to strain himself.

His dorsal spines lit up as he attempted to warm his son, but it was no use. He breathed out a blue radioactive mist onto Minilla, but Minilla grew colder and colder quickly.

The grieving father made a high pitched cry of pain. The deepest sorrow lingered in his eyes. Then, as he was looking into his heir's eyes, he saw the life fall out of them.

Godzilla kneeled there silently for a while.

After a time, Godzilla carried his son to the shore. He wanted to take him to the deep ocean, as deep as he could go. He remembered it from his childhood. That was where most of his species went to die. If a member of the family died on land, they would be carried to the deep ocean.

Godzilla stepped into icy water, but was confronted with a most unwelcome sight.

A massive fleet of battleships and carriers were just offshore. Tanks were being deployed as well as maser cannons down the coast.

The cold woeful agony that filled Godzilla was then flooded out by burning wretched agony. A flame grew in the father's eyes as he turned towards the humans and their armada.

He gently sat his son down in the shallow water and turned back to the ships.

A barrage of fire flew towards the monster. The cannons recoiled as flashes of fire and smoke burst forth from them. The projectiles blasted their way through the cold air.

They all collided with their target, Godzilla. He was bombarded with fire causing little bits of his tough flesh to fly away. His knees began to weaken and buckle under the pain, but Godzilla quickly recovered and held his ground.

Godzilla's entire form was engulfed by dark smoke. For a few seconds Godzilla was invisible; masked by the thick billowing blackness. He could smell his own toasting flesh. He ignored the pain. The wall of smoke began to loosen up as light began to pierce it. Sunlight was not the only light behind the smoke. Godzilla's figure was silhouetted by a bright blue light from behind. The dark motionless form of the monster stood silent. His head was nodded down, shadowing his eyes.

The men in the military vehicles looked on in terror at the menacing beast behind snow and smoke. The cannons were readied to fire once again. The soldier's within the many tanks, missile launchers, and maser cannons took aim.

Godzilla parted his legs and planted them firmly into the ground.

"Fire at will! Fire, fire!!!" yelled a voice over the radios.

Every gun in the small army was fired at once. The large metallic dishes at the head of the masers charged with plasma energy then discharged a beam of lightning.

Godzilla was once again bombarded, merely flinching at the impacts. His dorsal fins were humming and crackling violently with blue light. A mass of fiery blue energy was building up in the back of his throat. He snarled at his adversaries. Exploding out of Godzilla's throat, and cutting clear through billowing smoke, came a blue spiraling stream of atomic fire. It had all the power of a concentrated atomic explosion. The atomic heat ray collided with the tanks. It eliminated everything in its wake.

In a matter of seconds, the majority of the assault vehicles were gone. A cold black crater lay in the ice. Only six tanks and two rocket launchers remained. The three remaining maser tanks fired at Godzilla. Bolts of continues electricity shot out of the large dishes. The bolts hit Godzilla's chest and abdomen. Godzilla roared out in agony. The masers' deadly bolts surged through the monster's body. Godzilla rose up, and glared at his attackers.

The masers could not fire again, they needed to cool down. The remaining tanks and missile launchers fired away. Godzilla's eyes became infernos of rage. He charged the land units down the coast. He ignored the pesky missiles colliding with him. Godzilla continued to run right through the bombardment of enemy projectiles.

His heavy foot came down on the first tank he saw. Then he kicked another one. It want flying and crashed down further down the coast, exploding in impact. He swung his body around and swept his huge tail across the ground, taking out every last one of the vehicles. They each exploded as they collided with Godzilla's tail.

This would usually be the part when Godzilla released a loud roar of victory into the sky, but that wasn't the case that day.

He glared out at the battleships out in the ocean. They were retreating.

He silently turned back to his son. The snow was hard and heavy now. The clouds were blocking out the sunlight. He knelt down and held him in his arms again. They stayed there for a very long time as the snow blanketed them.

After that very long time, Godzilla rose, still holding his cold son.

He swam for hours in what could have been an ocean of his tears. Further and further he swan. Deeper and deeper he dove.

It was completely dark that deep. Then it became blinding. Godzilla had illuminated his dorsals. The ocean floor was lit up as Godzilla swam by. Fish and other little creatures who were used to living in pitch blackness hurried away from the glowing mountain range that was Godzilla's back.

He approached the edge of a great cliff and planted his feet on the ocean floor. Sand flew up and slowly floated back down.

Standing at the edge of the undersea cliff, Godzilla continued holding his son. He remembered their time together. He remembered finding him as a newborn. He remembered feeling wanted and loved in a world that otherwise had none of that for him. He remembered finding what he had been searching for for so long. It was all over now.

He had always wanted to be strong for Minilla and show him how to be dominant and powerful. However Godzilla felt weaker than he had ever felt. He wanted to hold the child for longer, but he was becoming terribly heavy. His arms finally gave out. Minilla slipped from his grasp and slowly sank over the cliff. Godzilla watched for as long as his son was visible. Even after Minilla disappeared into the darkness, Godzilla watched on for some time.

Then he accepted that it was time to go. And there was only one place he wanted to go. The voice that woke him had woke for a reason. He wanted answers. He wanted revenge.


	4. Ch 3

Chapter 3

Maritime Assault

Back at Site-G, Vincent and Gordon had reunited with the other survivors.

Vincent was tending to the few wounded individuals while Gordon was tending to one, Doctor Yukie Nakama.

Then a loud rumble could then be heard from above. It sounded like a large truck.

The sounds of footsteps came down the stairs and approached the room the survivors were holding up.

The door opened and severely soldiers and medics entered the room.

The soldier in charge approached Vincent.

"Are you Doctor Vincent Martin?" he asked.

"I am," Vincent answered.

"Are you or anyone here seriously injured?" the soldier asked.

"Some of my men has frostbite and Doctor Nakama has a sprained ankle."

Gordon interjected. "My ass is damn near frozen. Can we get a move on?"

"The same thing was on my mind," Vincent agreed, freezing.

"What, my ass?" Gordon joked.

"No, the cold," Vincent replied.

"That's the plan," the soldier said. "You can follow my men to the transport chopper. You'll be boarding a carrier."

"You've found any other survivors?" asked Vincent.

"We're still looking, sir. You're one of our priority targets right now."

Vincent was disturbed by the statement. He suspected that he was a priority because of his knowledge of Godzilla, but it still felt wrong that he came before other survivors still in the base. 'What if they had died because they weren't found first?' Vincent though.

Then he realized what the situation was. He knew he was needed as soon as possible or else more people could be caught in Godzilla's path.

He and the rest were escorted outside where a large helicopter waited with its blades spinning and ready to go. He boarded it.

The helicopter took off. Now Vincent could see the complete destruction Godzilla had caused. Everything on the surface was flattened. Godzilla had trampled it probably without even noticing it.

On the ride, Vincent was given warm soup and a military MRE (Meal Ready to Eat).

Vincent had noticed how well armed the helicopter was. It had a mounted minigun on the side that could swing around fired be a soldier inside. It also had deployable flares and missile launchers.

The soldiers inside the helicopter kept their eyes on the windows. They seemed nervous and clung to their standard issue rifles.

"You nervous?" Vincent asked the soldier across from him.

The soldier broke his gaze away from the window. He was slightly startled by Vincent.

"You know much about him? Like, what he's capable of?" the soldier asked back.

"I know more than most. He's still quite the mystery."

The soldier returned his gaze to the window. The sun was setting on the vast whiteness of Antarctica.

"He already took out the first unit that got here… friend of mine with in it…"

"I'm sorry… but I think if we all work together, no one else has to die."

"You might be onto somthin'. Plus, that new crazy ass airship they got sure filled me with hope."

"The Gotengo II?"

"Yah, man! Shit's insane!"

Vincent looked out the window and saw the shore. They were almost there.

He also saw what looked like the aftermath of a fight on the ice not far away. Ice was cracked and pushed up. Footprints covered the area. There appeared to be three sets of prints. One was Godzilla's, whose led to and from the scene. Another looked a little like Godzilla's but much smaller. They only led to the scene and couldn't be seen leaving. The third set seemed to have came from nowhere and looked nothing like Godzilla's.

This raised many questions for Vincent. The most obvious looking conclusion was too terrifying for him think about.

Soon after, they were approaching the carrier. It was accompanied by a vast fleet. If they had arrived sooner, they may have stood a chance against the hungry and tired Godzilla.

Vincent's helicopter came to a landing on the carrier's deck.

Vincent stepped out and was immediately approached by another soldier.

"Dr. Martin," the soldier yelled over the chopping of the helicopter blades. "We're working on salvaging your hard drive and other documents from Site-G. We have an office ready for you. Is there anything else you'll need?"

"We had G-cell samples in cryostorage. I need those. We were near a breakthrough. They may be our best chance at an effective counter attack."

Another helicopter just like the one Vincent took landed on the carrier. Out stepped Gordon who helped out Yukie. He saw Vincent and waived.

Then all the soldiers on the deck got a call on their comm radios. A voice declared "All hands use caution on deck. Gotengo is rising. Repeat, all hands use caution. The Gotengo is rising."

Vincent looked around puzzled. He saw that Gordon looked ecstatic as he also looked around.

Vincent noticed that position of all the ships. Their formation circled a huge empty area of ocean.

Then the water began to shift and stir. A massive shadow appeared beneath the surface. It was surfacing.

With a huge splash, the great vessel burst up from the waves. This wasn't like a submarine coming to the surface. This vessel exploded up and out of the water. Then it remained suspended in mid air.

Seawater cascaded off the hull of the ship like a waterfall.

"Holy hell! I never thought I'd see her in action!" Gordon exclaimed.

The falling water revealed the ship to be the Gotengo II.

Gordon, gazing up, nearly lost his balance and would have fallen if a soldier hadn't caught him.

The Gotengo II resembled its predecessor somewhat except that instead of resembling a submarine, this new airship looked a little bizarre. It had sharper angles and looked more fit to be called an airship. It was black with many angles similar to a stealth bomber for the same reasons as a stealth bomber: radar invisibility. The signature drill on its nose was larger and more menacing than the Gotengo I's.

Vincent was lead to his own private quarters aboard the carrier.

Gordon had questioned why Vincent got his own room and asked why he was so special.

Gordon was guided to his given quarters, but discovered that they were not so private. A few of the other Site-G staff were there. So was the lovely Yukie Nakama.

"Well hi there!" smiled Gordon, "Do we get to share a room?"

Yukie answered with a "Mhm" and a smile.

"Did you see the Gotengo!? This is probably the coolest day of my life!"

"Oh Gordon! You sound like a boy! It's kinda' cute."

"How's your ankle holdin' up?" Gordon asked in a softer tone.

"Much better now, thank you. The doctor was impressed with how you wrapped it."

"I didn't get to be an Eagle Scout without gettin' my first aid merit badge."

"I'm still rather cold though," Yukie said as she began to blush slightly, "Would you lay down with me for a little while?"

"Well I wouldn't be much of a gentleman if I denied a lady's request," Gordon replied with a grin.

The raging sea monster tore through the ocean at about fifty knots. He almost always swam near the surface so he could take a quick breath of air when he needed it. The wake his protruding dorsal spine had left behind was far and wide.

A pod of singing blue whales had hurried out of the way as soon as they heard the noisy beast heading their way. Fortunate for the whales, they had evaded the monster, for if they hadn't, one or two of them would have certainly become a meal.

Where the whales were alert and evasive of the force of nature that was Godzilla, a cruise liner with roughly four thousand people on board was not so cautious.

El Relajar, a commercial cruise liner, was on its way to its home dock at the southern shore of Argentina. Many of the passengers were in the buffet eating lunch. Almost everyone else was on deck either enjoying the magnificent view of the vast ocean, or sitting back and enjoying a mixture of warm sunshine and a cool wind.

An English speaking man (Spanish as a second language), and his eight year old daughter stood together at the bow of the ship.

"We should be back in port by the end of the day," the man spoke down to his daughter, "Did you enjoy the trip so far?"

"Yah, it was nice," the small girl said.

"Well, good," the man said happily.

The sound of a chattering, excited crowd slowly began to grow on the port side. Many people walked over to see what the amusement was, including the man and his daughter.

"Mirada, mirada!" many people yelled in Spanish, meaning 'look, look'.

When the man's daughter saw what it was, she gasped in excitement. Two enormous blue whales were gracefully swimming up and down through the surface of the waves.

Unfortunately, the people did not realize that the whales were not gracefully dancing. They were running for their lives.

"Wow!" the man said in surprise, "Now how do you like the trip?" he asked his daughter

"What kind of whales are those?" the girl asked.

"Those are blue whales," the man began, "they're really rare, not many people ever get to see them."

"They're big!" the girl exclaimed.

"Yes they are. They're the biggest animals in the whole world," the man explained just as one of the magnificent giants shot up a spout of water.

Meanwhile, at the bridge, the crew kept track of the various conditions of the ship, weather, sonar, and other factors. Then something different happened, something very out of the everyday routine. The crew member that manned the sonar looked at his screen in a very shocked and confused manner.

"Uh, capitán," the crewman called to his captain in Spanish, "I'm picking up something very strange; a large object."

"Yes, there are some blue whales swimming alongside us," the captain said in Spanish as he looked down at the monitor.

"No," the crewman said as he pointed at the screen, "those are the whales." He pointed to four oval shapes on the left side of the screen. "What is that?" He pointed to another relatively oval shaped blotch four times bigger than the whales. "It's moving!" With every blip of the sonar, the large mass grew closer to the ship.

The captain lifted his head to look outside. He looked in the direction of the mass, nothing. "Could it be some kind of glitch?"

"Maybe, but I seriously doubt it," the crewman said.

"Could it be another whale?" the captain asked, realizing how stupid it sounded. 'What's bigger than a blue whale?' he thought to himself.

"Too big to be a whale," the crewman said, sounding worried as the green blotch blipped closer.

"A submarine?" the captain asked.

"Too big to be any kind of sub I've seen!" the crewman began panic. "It's heading towards us, captain!"

"Brace for impact!"

While everyone was concentrated on the whales, the little girl seemed to be the only one who saw it coming. It was a great spine jutting up out of the water, getting higher, and speeding towards the ship.

The captain's voice came over the speakers.

"All guests and staff! Brace for…"

He didn't even have time to finish before the dorsal spine struck the cruise liner with devastating force. The entire ship jolted violently. Some of the passengers that were leaning against the railing to see the whales were thrown overboard, plunging into the sea below with great impact. Some did not resurface. Others flailed helplessly. The little girl was grabbed by her father while she was halfway over the edge, just about to fall.

The glasses and wine bottles flew off the shelves in the bars, shattering on the ground, or on people's heads. Anything not nailed down was flung about. Everyone on the ship lost their balance.

Another jolt was inflicted onto the ship. In the main hall, people fell to the ground once again. The enormous glass chandelier swayed back and forth in a way the bolts that connected it to the ceiling weren't meant to withstand.

At first, everything was calm. The tremors had ceased. People slowly got to their feet. The ceiling above the large chandelier began to crack and crumble as the heavy ornament swung around until the ceiling finally gave in. The huge chandelier chaotically plummeted down four stories before it crashed to the floor of the main deck level, subduing several people in a hellish rain of glass.

On deck, the father and daughter laid on the ground, holding each other tightly. The father opened his eyes and saw that it was now calm and people were getting up.

"Hey," the father said softly to his girl. "It's okay now. Come on, get up."

"What happened?" the girl whimpered.

"I don't know, but it's over now."

The blue whales began to whine aloud, as if in distress. Then all of the great whales were under water. They moved hastily. They wanted to get as far away as possible.

Then nearly everyone on deck saw an enormous dark tail come splashing out of the water. They got a very good look at it too. It was dark grey, and had ridges running along the top. Then it plunged back into the water, splashing the people on deck.

The whales moaned and wined in panic. The people watched and heard. Then an enormous form exploded up from the depths.

The people knew who it was. They might not have thought of him in a while. Some even thought he was dead. But they all remembered his name instantly. The terror, the legend: Godzilla. His ominous form rose high up out of the water. He had something in his mouth; it was hard to tell what it was.

His height seemed to be endless as he continued rising up from the depths. He had now blocked the sun, darkening him further in silhouette. In awe, people stared. In terror, people ran.

The father and daughter fled away from the front of the ship. He carried his little girl in his arms close.

Then, a loud wet crunch came from the Godzilla's jaw, and a large piece of what he had in his mouth came falling down. It was the dead, upper half of a blue whale. The corpse crashed down hard on the bow of the ship, causing it to sink a bit, tilting the ship.

Many people again fell to the ground by the unexpected blow to the ship.

When the father carrying his daughter fell, his girl flew from his grasp. He took a second to recover, and then saw that his daughter was about five feet away from him to his left. He started to stumble to his feet.

Just then, one enormous claw landed on the bow, tilting the ship further. Before the man could grab his daughter, she had slid out of his reach, gliding towards the bow.

"Maria!!" the father yelled.

She glided faster and faster down the ship. She tried to regain footing, but the deck was freshly polished and the floor was now too steep. Then the giant monster dragged his hand away, off the ship. The girl stopped herself and slowly got to her feet.

She was at the bow and saw the great beast before her and slowly looked up. She began to sob fearfully as she saw the monster looking down at her with a raging fires in his eyes.

Godzilla swatted the whale corpse off the bow with a mighty swing of his hand, jolting the ship. The girl stood still, alone and scared. The beast bent down to the little girl at eye level.

Two giant balls of fire stared into little Maria. Godzilla bared his teeth in coiling rage. Little Maria continued to stand helplessly in front of the monster. He slowly parted his jaws. His mouth illuminated with an electric hum, and blue flames leaked out from the gaps in his teeth.

Maria's eyes began to hurt from the mesmerizing light.

Two large quick hands grabbed the girl under the arms. She was dashed away in a matter of seconds, away from the horror. She looked around to see her panicked father holding her tightly.

The monster's attention diverted from the little human. The two giant balls of fire moved up to the top part of this vessel. They saw a room with three glass walls and many more humans staring right back.

The captain stood in silence, not knowing at all what to do or what to think or how to feel. He said something under his voice. Then a wave of blue fire rushed at him.

The bridge exploded in a glorious blaze. Bits of shrapnel rained down on the ship.

The reflection of the fire faded from the monster's eyes, but the fire within burned still. Godzilla unleashed a furious roar. He then raised both claws, then bashed them both down on the ship. The whole ship tilted dramatically. People at the other end were catapulted either into the water, or back down on the ship.

The ship began to sink slowly downwards as the monster watched in satisfaction, although he was not completely satisfied.

Godzilla abruptly turned away and plunged back into the sea.

A moment or two passed and the passengers lowered their guards a bit. The horrifying and most unusual assault had seemed to be over. However it was only almost over.

The little girl screamed "Daddy! He's coming back!!"

Everyone who heard her turned around to see Godzilla's dorsal spines darting for the ship once again. The monster's blade like fin crashed into the side of the ship. His spine tore through the hull and continued through the rest of the ship until it broke through the otherside.

The ship was broken in half.

The two halves slowly sank into the ocean.

Only seven lifeboats drifted away from the site of the catastrophe. In one of the boats were the father and his little girl, holding one another tightly. The girl's eyes were shut, while the father looked down softly.

As for every single other survivor, they gazed in terror (and a bit of relief) at the enormous dorsals swimming away and submerging into the ocean.


	5. Ch 4

Chapter 4

Old Wounds

Vincent Martin laid in a cot in his private quarters. He was sleeping. Given his long day, the rest was much needed.

In a dream he was having, he recalled a memory from his early childhood. He remembered that he had almost drowned as a child when he was four. His parents had brought him along for a walk along the beach.

Vincent's parents, only eighteen and twenty years old at the time, had sat down at a bench and were not paying attention to little Vincent who was attempting to see how far he could swim.

The sun was setting and it was getting dark. The wind picked up and the waves got higher.

Then he didn't see his mother or father back on the shore. He tried screaming in desperation. His arms soon became too tired to keep his body above the water. The feeling of salt water invading his lungs would be so traumatic that he wouldn't learn to swim until his later teens.

Little Vincent awoke (spitting up sea water) on the shore with his father kneeling over him.

A deafening clap of thunder rippled through the black sky.

His parents vanished into mist. The sand became damper. Then the sand turned into water. Vincent took in a gasp of air before sinking.

The waves rose and fell in a violently choppy manner. Vincent surfaced from under the waves and struggled to stay afloat in the mayhem.

He didn't know what was going on. Just a second ago, he was on the shore with his parents. Then was back to drowning without explanation.

He saw a glowing blue light in the distance. It was the same powerful light from the island he had seen before. He was sure of that. But he wasn't sure of the island it was emanating from. He had difficulty making it out, but he knew it looked different from before. The waves calmed down enough for Vincent to see the island.

Vincent shuttered in horrific realization. He recognized the island. It was Manhattan.

"Vinnie!" a teenage girl cried out.

He instantly recognized it as the voice of his little sister, Taylor. It was coming from the island.

He could hear it as if she was right in front of him, but it was coming from the island of Manhattan in the distance.

"Vinnie, help!" Taylor cried again.

He could hear the tears of fear in her voice. She continued to cry frantically as a loud booming seemed to be moving closer and closer to her.

Vincent was swimming as fast as he could. It felt like there was more rain in the air than their was breathable oxygen as Vincent inhaled after each stroke. His arms and legs burned with exhaustion in the frigid water.

Then Vincent heard Taylor's blood curdling scream as the blue light erupted into a blinding explosion.

Vincent fell through the ocean like it was air. Everything was as black as he could imagine.

Down from the depths, a faint laughing could be heard. As he fell further, the laughter morphed into a horrible, inhuman cackle.

Piercing from the deepness appeared a pair, then two pairs, then three pairs of glowing red eyes holding maliciousness. The hellish glow from the eyes had soon conquered the blackness. Vincent's became disoriented while shielding his eyes.

From the deepness, Vincent heard "Zero..." from the hideous mouth that had made the cackle.

Then, beneath the center pair of red eyes, something was glowing. It was a golden glow. As the light grew brighter, a shape took form. Vincent recognised the shape. It was a floris de lis emblem burning in gold.

The hideous cackle rang louder than before. Vincent saw the three pairs of eyes coming down on his.

Vincent woke up beaded with sweat. He had never had a dream that horrendous.

A knock on the door was what woke Vincent up. He reluctantly got off the very comfortable cot to open the door.

It was a crewman. "Dr. Martin," the young crewman said, "the captain would like to see you in the conference room. We'll be arriving at G-Force Base soon, so please hurry."

"Why?" Vincent demanded.

"I'm unaware, sir. Captain Williams and Admiral Aso have ordered me to escort you to the conference room."

"Fine, I'll be out in a minute." Vincent closed the door and went to the bathroom to wash up.

Vincent, Gordon, Yukie, and the handful of other Site-G catastrophe survivors sat at a smooth round table.

Yukie was wondering if the rest of the world knew of the return of Godzilla, or if this was all still a secret that they were now a part of.

Vincent was hoping for answers. He wanted to know why Godzilla had decided to awaken now. He had a feeling that they knew something, and he wanted in.

Gordon was told that Admiral Aso would be present. He was thinking of all the questions he wanted to ask about the Gotengo II.

Admiral Aso and Captain Williams entered the conference room.

The soldiers who were standing around the room saluted.

"At ease, men," Aso ordered.

The men lowered their arms.

"You are all dismissed," Aso told the men.

They left room.

"Private Gordon," Admiral Aso acknowledged, "Good to soon you again."

"You as well, sir!" Gordon replied and saluted.

"First, ladies and gentlemen, I'm glad to see you all alive," Aso said. "I hope you're all aware of how vital you are all are right now. With your help, our goal is to make damn sure we never have another 1956 or 1985. And you have my full support in your research," he turned to Captain Williams, "Take the floor, Captain."

"Yes, Sir," Williams began. "As you all know, your subject G escaped from your research facility at 0900 hours and twelve minutes today. After that, at 1100 hours and five minutes, the first naval and army units arrived at the shore and encountered the subject."

Williams tapped a few keys on a laptop. A projector turned on and displayed his screen. A video began to play. It was from the point of view of one of the battleships as Godzilla approached the Antarctic shore.

Vincent's blood went cold at the sight. A bit of fear struck everyone in the room as they looked into the shadows under Godzilla's heavy brow.

"Here, if you look closely, the subject can be seen holding a creature roughly a third the size of itself. Crewmen with binoculars claimed that the smaller creature resembled Subject G. The status of the smaller creature is unknown. The subject was seen carrying it out to sea."

"Another one," Vincent said. "A second Godzilla."

"That's what we want you and your team to determine, Doctor," Williams said. "And if this really is a young Godzilla, it can be assumed that it's the third, or fourth, or one hundredth for all we know. The game has changed! We may not be dealing with just one giant monster anymore."

Vincent thought back. He remembered the giant footprints in the snow.

"The footprints," Vincent said, "did you see them?"

"What about them?"

"There were three pairs of footprints not far from the coast. One pair was Godzilla's, one pair looked like they could have been from this smaller creature, but the third looked completely different. And it looked like there was some sort of conflict."

"Thank you, Doctor," Williams said. "Moving on. At approximately 1600 hours today a commercial cruise liner was attacked by the subject."

Yukie along with a few others gasped.

"We know this," Williams tapped on his laptop and brought up an American news program, "because it's all over the goddamn news."

The headline read "CLAIMS OF GODZILLA ATTACK!!" The program was playing footage of interviews with survivors of the El Relajar. The survivors were speaking as English dubbing played over them.

"It was Godzilla," the dubbed survivor said. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life! He was like a mountain that rose from the sea! He exhaled blue fire and everything!"

Williams muted the news segment.

"As of now, you are to speak with no one without proper approval. We can't risk any information you gather getting misconstrued. You'll make public announcements when told to. Does everyone understand?"

The people shook their heads affirmatively.

"The next few hours are pivotal, people. Once we reach the UNGCC base in Tokyo, you will be given everything you need."

Once no one had anymore questions, Admiral Aso dismissed the scientists.

Later that afternoon, Admiral Aso sat at his desk in his private quarters aboard the Gotengo II.

In front of him was a foot long model of the Gotengo I.

He held in in his hands and reminisced about its hallways and control room. He would have liked to have walked through it again.

It was he who commanded that airship, making him the world's first airship captain. He and everyone responsible for building the ultimate war ship were so confident in it that Aso and his ship were dispatched immediately to confront Godzilla when he suddenly appeared in 2000.

The battle only lasted a few moments when Godzilla had an iron grip on the ship. Aso ended the struggle by ordering his men to fire missiles at a nearby mountain. The ensuing avalanche allowed the ship to escape and buried the monster in a deep crevasse.

Godzilla was left unconscious and the UN funded Research Site-G was then established.

Takaki Aso had a particular loathing towards Godzilla; a very personal loathing.

In 1956, the young Takaki was separated from his parents in the midst of Godzilla's first assault on mankind.

It was 1956, Tokyo.

Takaki was with his parents. They were in the middle of an enormous crowd heading out of the city. The prime minister had ordered an evacuation of the entire city of Tokyo. Nobody was positive why.

Takaki lived only about a mile from Tokyo Bay, so it would take him a while to get out of the city. The massive crowd of people just slowed them down even more.

Around dusk, the military had hastened the evacuation. Everybody was walking faster. People were crammed against each other for over a mile.

That was when Takaki was separated from his parents. Takaki's parents held each of his hands; mother on the left, father on the right. The people in the crowd seemed to be getting crammed tighter every minute, they took up every available inch. It wasn't long until the panicking people were forced in between Takaki and his parents. First his father disappears into the crowd, then his mother was also torn away from his hand. Takaki was forced against his will to walk forward as he frantically looked around for his mother and father.

Takaki was all alone now, that was the last time he would ever see his parents.

Machine guns were being fired in the distance at the shore of Tokyo Bay. Every man, woman, and child turned their heads around in silence. They thought: "Are those guns? Who is shooting? Who is being shot at? Are we being invaded?"

A voice (in Japanese) called out through the loudspeakers that rose high above the crowd, "Attention... due to recent events, the lack of vehicles, and the overall progress of the evacuation, the remaining citizens must evacuate the city on foot." There were still thousands of people in the city.

Not five seconds later, a hellish roar exploded from the bay. It was a roar that would haunt Takaki for the rest of his nights.

Every single head in the street shot around again in shock. More gunfire could be heard along with the sounds of mayhem and destruction.

The lights of many fires alighted off in distance.

Little Takaki was pushed, shoved, and knocked around as he could not keep up with the rest of the crazed people. He was mostly trying to stay up and not get trampled to death. His eyes were filled with panic as tears poured from them. "Where is my mother!" he thought. "Where are my parents!"

The large crowd soon broke up as the faster ones made there way ahead. There was much more elbow room now. The only people Takaki could see now were the elderly, the ill, and worst of all, children; abandoned children.

Takaki walked through the abandoned city of Tokyo. He had never felt more alone.

About an hour later, Takaki was still wandering the streets. He wasn't crying, because he had no more tears to cry. He showed no signs of sadness. He showed no sign if any emotion at all.

"Mother... mother... father," thought Takaki in a cold, emotionless tone. "Are they still hear? What if they left the city without me. What if they just couldn't find me, so they left me. Or maybe they're still hear, and maybe they're looking for me. I got lost before, and they found me. Maybe they will come up behind me, or from around that corner."

Takaki looked at the street corners, he looked behind him too. He thought he just might run into them. He just wanted them to come walking around that corner. Then he would run too them and they would embrace him. Then they would get out of this damned city together.

He continued to walk slowly towards the corner. He played the scenario of his parents coming around the corner over and over. But it wasn't what happened.

He backed up and leaned up against a wall, then slid to the ground. He started to weep, which soon broke out into a full cry.

"Mama!!!" , Takaki yelled through his choked throat, "Papa!!!" He continued to yell out for his parents until his throat was sore. He buried his face in his knees and continued to cry alone with no one to comfort him.

He shunned away the rest of the world around him. He didn't even notice that the earth was shaking at a steady rhythm beneath him, growing louder and stronger.

Takaki rose his head up out of his sorrow. Now he did feel the earth shake beneath his feet. "An earthquake?" he thought. "No, this is different, strange. Earthquakes don't act like this at all."

The ground quaked with a BOOM... BOOM... BOOM...!!!

It felt like the source was not too far away, maybe only two kilometers. Takaki looked up at the eastern sky, it was illuminated a fiery orange.

Despite being in the absence of the sun, the air was warm.

Sounds of chaos and destruction could be heard in the distance.

The orange sky, the warming air, the horrible sounds,... it was all getting closer to Takaki.

BOOM... BOOM... BOOM!!!

The natural instinct to run hit his knees and Takaki found himself sprinting. He was running the other way, away from the terror that was heading towards him. This was the fastest he had ever ran. He had never sprinted for so long. He could feel the muscles in his legs burning, but he continued to sprint. He ran as if the jaws of hell were after him.

The danger grew closer and closer with every passing step. Takaki could feel each BOOM as his feet touched the ground grow louder and stronger.

Takaki almost lost his balance a few times due to the violent shaking of the ground.

Then he was thrown completely off the ground by the BOOMING of the earth. The chaos was getting ever closer. He got back up and kept running.

Takaki had sprinted for almost three miles now. Running, running, running away from a threat yet to even be seen.

He couldn't run anymore. It was physically impossible. He stopped all at once and began to gasp heavily. The air was thick with ash and smoke, making it hard to even breathe normally.

He started to walk at a fast pace, still struggling for breath. He looked up and saw that he was outside the train station.

He decided to hide in a building. He was closer to the train station, so he made his way in there.

When Takaki got inside, he saw that it was deserted, like every other place on the streets.

Takaki walked slowly through the abandoned train station, looking for somewhere he thought would be a good place to take cover. His eyes then looked out the window.

In amazement and curiosity, he saw a train car crushed under what looked like a huge, dark, rocky column. Then the column rose up and stepped forward.

Takaki had realized what he was looking at. He looked up upon the thing that was responsible for the explosive sounds that had been chasing him and leaving countless dead in its fiery wake.

Takaki starred in awe as a one hundred and sixty-four foot tall dinosaur stood just a quarter mile away. It had three rows of enormous dorsal spines running down it's back. In its maw was a large train car, along with another in its left hand.

People were still inside. The people still inside the train car in its mouth were all screaming in terror. Some would jump out the windows to their death.

The beast dropped the train car that was in it's hand. The car plunged to the ground; it's passengers screaming all the way. It crashed to the ground killing most of the people inside, leaving a few alive to die later as they lay trapped, mortally wounded, and bloody in the twisted metal.

The monster, with the other car in it's mouth, began to crunch its jaws down on the car. The windows in the train car burst under the pressure. The people were more terrified than ever.

The monster then flung its head to one side as it released the train car. The train car went flying to the ground. As another train carrying over one hundred evacuees came riding along the tracks, the two collided. There was a massive explosion of fire and black smoke. There were no survivors.

The lumbering giant observed the small spectacle of fire, smoke, and death. It kept a stern, emotionless look. The monster opened its jaws half way and released a horrible growl.

The lights of the enormous fires danced in the creature's eyes.

The air everywhere made blurry waves in the extreme heat.

The monster took in a large breath of the warm air, then released it in a hellish roar. Almost every window of every building around the beast exploded.

Bits and pieces of sharp glass flew at Takaki. He shielded his face with his arms. Large and small cuts covered the front of Takaki. He also received a small cut on his cheek.

The giant monster began to walk forward, towards Takaki. Each step sounded like a bomb going off. Each step covered more than twenty feet.

"Hide or run? Hide or run?" The question slammed back and forth within Takaki's naive head. He had recovered some of his strength, along with his breath. He knew the building wouldn't be standing in less than a minute. He bolted out the door.

Once again, Takaki found himself running for his life. He could hear the hideous cries of the beast behind him.

By the time he was to the next block, Takaki heard a loud crashing sound. He glanced behind him to see the train station in ruins, and the monster walking through it as if it were nothing.

The monster kept walking through the street, the faces of buildings were being torn away by the monsters sides and tail.

Takaki forced himself to look straight ahead and to just keep running.

It was then that a strange, loud humming sound arose. It was the monster. It's back glowed white hot. A few seconds later, a huge stream of what looked like a superheated stream of steam shot high over Takaki's head. It collided into a group of buildings on the left side of the street. The hot mist was dragged over to the right side of the street, engulfing everything in a rising sea of fire.

By the time Takaki was at the next block, the monster was much closer. When he looked back, he was overcome with horror and amazement. The towering giant lumbered over Takaki. Takaki tripped and fell to the ground. He laid there in awe as the creature towered over him and cast a massive shadow.

Being a child, Takaki had not yet fully grasped the concept of death. He didn't know what exactly to think right then. "Am I going to die now?" Takaki thought with excruciating sadness "I want my mom, ... my dad!"

"Mama!!!", Takaki yelled in desperation.

The colossus halted its march as Takaki yelled out.

Takaki thought that it had heard him, and by calling for some kind of help was a very, very bad idea. The monster slowly lowered its head down. It was then that Takaki, a ten year old schoolboy, made direct eye contact with a monster that wished only for death and destruction.

Takaki gazed into the monster's eyes and could see nothing other than fiery rage, and all of it was focused on him.

Deep in Takaki's heart, his own fiery hatred kindled. He hated this damn creature that had taken his parents away. He wanted to somehow rise up against it and kill it.

Just then, the fiery hatred in Takaki's heart was violently extinguished as the giant monster let loose a deafening roar directly at Takaki. The boy was forced to the ground by the incredible power of the cry. In his mind, Takaki was thrown back to feeling nothing but fear and horror again.

Then the monster began to lower its head to the ground at Takaki. It's face was falling ever closer to Takaki. Takaki could see greater detail in the creature's eyes now. It kept it's strong, stern look all the while.

Takaki suddenly felt himself being lifted up from the ground. He soon realized he was being dragged along the ground by the arms. He looked up. A soldier was carrying him away. The man had look of horror on his face, not to Takaki's surprise. He looked back at the giant monster just as an explosive round collided with its head. It's attention to Takaki had vanished as it rose its head up and continued it's juggernaut march towards a group of tanks. The tanks kept firing.

Takaki passed out.

It was the next morning when he woke up.

He was greeted by a delicate looking young Japanese woman. She asked him if he was feeling better now. Takaki said he felt much better after his rest, though he only meant physically. She told him that the soldiers had brought him here.

Takaki asked who she was. She told him she was volunteering as a nurse at the hospital, her name was Emiko Yamane.


	6. Ch 5

Chapter 5

Fallen Knight

"My Erzherzog, the kaiju known as Godzilla has vanished," one of lesser rank reported, "Monster X fled the scene before finishing his objective. He chased a large flying creature to the planet's moon."

The superior stood silent for a moment looking out his window. He wore a long black duster that looked like shiny leather. He wore black gloves and boots as well. Under his duster was a dark blue uniform similar to what the one of lesser rank was wearing. His skin was pale and his hair was black and combed down in front of his forehead. Over his eyes were what looked like black, super thin sunglasses.

"Why?" he indirectly asked with fiery frustration, "Why, at the dawn of our plan has this… other kaiju risen?"

"The Keizer has proposed that we activate the Gigan earlier than originally planned," the lesser explained. "His hopes are that it can eliminate this Godzilla so it does not interfere with the other kaiju when they are activated."

"Yes, Godzilla will be extremely bothersome unless dealt with soon," the superior began. "Evan X had difficulty handling him."

"I will inform the Keizer of your conclusion, sir," the lesser replied.

"Will you now..." a devious grin grew on the superior's face. "You trust your Keizer blindly, don't you?"

This question confused the lesser for a second. "Of course, sir. He is Zero One: the closest to Zero. He is the Keizer."

"We are steps away from total deletion and he hopes to rely on time wasting schemes and diplomacy!" the superior exclaimed. "He is an old fool."

"Is there any further use for me here, sir?" the lesser asked nervously.

The lesser's ignorance and loyalty irritated the superior. "No. Zero shall reign," he stated as the customary closing statement for a conversation.

"Zero shall reign," the lesser exited.

The superior was Zero Two: the Erzherzog. He was just below the Keizer in rank. If the Keizer were to be deleted somehow, then Zero Two would become Zero One: the new Keizer. This fact ran through the Erzherzog's head often. He attempted to relax his anxious mind by looking down on the planet Mars from his observation window. "Zero shall reign…" he whispered to himself.

Deep underneath the land once known as Mesopotamia, a knight lay dormant. This knight hung upright from thick chains attached to the ceiling of an immense cave. The position he was hung resembled one crucified.

Hard clay coated the knight's entirety like an ancient mummy. Two long scythe-like blades took the places of hands. Three broad fins adorned its back. Long spikes ran up its neck to the top of its head. One long, narrow eye has a fixed look of rage. For a mouth, it had a sort of beak. It had a deadly tail with a trident on the tip. The thing was armed from head to toe; literally to the pointed teeth.

The fallen knight's name was Gigan. His eon long slumber was about to come to an end.

His body was discovered in the 1970's. Since then, a top secret facility, similar to Site-G, had been established. It had been discovered by the scientists that Gigan was some kind of cyborg; part machine, part living animal. What particularly puzzled the research team what that Gigans organic parts were still alive, operating at a near death pace. About once a year, the heart of the creature could be heard making one beat.

Along the walls of the cave were faded paintings; depictions of history according to the ancient Mesopotamian people. There were drawings of pyramids with smooth sides like the Egyptian pyramids.

There was a scene of two creatures facing each other in combat. One was Gigan. The other was a massive vibrantly colored moth: Mothra. The opponents were shown flying over a crushed pyramid and a burning city.

The next scene depicted Mothra, surrounded in flames, diving towards Gigan.

The final scene was of Gigan, fallen, and Mothra high up in the heavens. An emblem was over Mothra. It was a cross with waves of light coming from it.

An ugly crack then split its way down the image of Mothra. It felt like a sudden earthquake.

Everyone in the base jumped and stumbled. The quake only lasted a few seconds. It left the researchers puzzled and shocked. Then the emergency sirens rang.

Topside, over the base, the armed security guards shot frantically at a giant monster.

Monster X had fallen from the sky and landed with a boom that caused everything not grounded to jump.

Monster X was crouched down, looking down at the puny humans attempting to harm him. His bony claw reached out for a group of scared men.

Before he could grab them and crush them into nothing, and RPG missile hit his hand. He pulled his hand back. The menacing monster sighted one who had the RPG in a tower and glared at him. His eyes, including the eyes on the half-heads on his shoulders, began to glow with a bright yellow. Lightning shot forth. The bolts hit the tower, destroying it entirely. Monster X swept his head around, obliterating every soul in sight.

Monster X wanted to stick around and kill more humans, but he was here for a reason. He rested his hand on the ground. Below him, he detected life.

Monster X spoke through telepathy. "Gaigan… Rise."

It took a moment for Gigan's brain to activate and reach consciousness. "Who are you to make demands of me?" Gigan asked, extremely aggravated.

"I come on behalf of the Keizer, the leader of the Xilian Empire." Monster X answered.

Gigan's thought processes were slow, having just awakened after a few thousand years. "I serve the Space Hunters of the Nebulan Empire."

"The roaches?" Monster X scoffed. "You've been asleep for a long time. The Nebulans are a pathetic shell of what they were."

"But they had built the largest and most powerful armada in the galaxy," Gigan said. "What was their downfall?"

Monster X took a second to think of how to answer. Not being seen by Gigan, he had a vague look of knowing something in his eyes.

"... A demon befell them," Monster X answered.

"What does that mean?"

"It's not important. Not to you."

"Even if I wanted to leave, I am trapped here. The moth sapped my energy. Chains bind me here."

"The moth… she is the nuisance, isn't she."

Monster X's eyes lit up bright yellow.

"Allow me to lend you a hand," Monster X said.

They his eyes released their lightning. The bolts traveled straight through the earth and rock. These bolts were not simply lightning. They were a controllable combination of bent gravity and electromagnetism.

They reached Gigan's cave and gripped the chains that held him. They surged through Gigan and made him convulse in agony. All of his systems, organic and cybernetic, were force activated. The chains broke and the hard clay fell of him in chunks.

His legs caught the ground as he fell and his scythes supported him. His long, single eye illuminated with a deadly red. He saw the many researchers in the observation window frozen in horror. One heavy scythe rose up and was swung into the room, taking out all within.

"Now rise, damn you!" Monster X screamed telepathically.

Gigan looked up. His eye illuminated brighter. Out shot a wide, red laser blast that completely destroyed the earth above him.

Monster X's eyes widened as he quickly leaned away as the ground cracked beneath him.

The laser reached the surface and shot up into the sky. A gaping hole sat in the middle of a desert valley.

Out leapt Gigan in all his glory. His scythes glistened in the sunlight. They were made of unique form of titanium, "space" titanium, and would never rust, tarnish or dull. His skin was black and appeared to be covered in circuitry. His three fins were a blood red.

Monster X stood before him. "The humans are far more advanced than they were before. There is a great city southeast of here. There, you will show me what you are capable of."

"I will do this..." Gigan complied. "But tell me, who are you?"

"You shall refer to me as X...for now."

The two Monsters rose into the air and flew off towards an unsuspecting metropolis.

Vincent and the others had arrived at G-Force Base in Tokyo.

Vincent had taken a moment to watch the Gotengo II dock in the massive hangar. Vincent thought it was pretty thrilling. Gordon was telling him all about the ship as it landed and was locked into place.

G-Force Base was impressive too. It was a huge dark grey complex that resembled a bomb shelter. It took up about nine city blocks not far from Tokyo Bay.

Vincent had been introduced to his office and laboratory. No expense was spared in this dire situation.

He knew his G-cell samples would be arriving soon, so he took advantage of the little free time he would have for a while.

He called his family.

The phone rang at the Martin residents in New York City.

Someone picked up the phone. Vincent recognised the voice as his younger teenage sister, Taylor Martin.

"Hello?" Taylor answered.

"How's it going, Taylor Tot?"

"Vinnie! Do you know what's going on?! Spill the beans!

"Oh, thanks for your concern. I'm doing just fine."

"Vince, my phone is blowing up because most my friend know you research Godzilla! I need some dirt! My reputation is at stake!"

"Well sorry to leave you dry, but I'm in the dark too," Vincent lied.

"Ugh! You're worthless! You want mom?"

"Yah, go get her."

Taylor sat the phone down.

A moment later, Tanya Martin picked up.

"Vinnie! What do you know about Godzilla?" his mother asked.

"It's nice to know Godzilla gets more love in the family than I do."

"Oh dear, you know I worry about you."

"How are things at the base? Are you keeping warm?"

Vincent's mother, nor any family member of anyone who worked at Site-G knew the real reason for the base's existence nor did they know what had happened. No one did outside of a small few in the UN.

"I'm actually not at the base anymore. When all this started, they moved me to this base in Tokyo."

"Tokyo?! Oh my! How is it, dear?"

"Um. Couldn't tell you. I haven't been outside yet. Kinda just got here."

"Oh! I can't wait to come see you! I've always wanted to see Japan!"

"I'm sure I'll be able to show you guys around whenever you come. How's dad do-"

Sirens suddenly went off in the base. Red lights flashed in Vincent's office.

"Vinnie, what's that? What's going on?" his mother asked.

"I don't know, but I think I've gotta go. I'll tell you later. I love you guys!"

Vincent hung up and left his lab.

In the halls, people were rushing about. They weren't rushing in one direction, but many. So, Vincent concluded, this wasn't an evacuation.

Vincent saw Gordon approach him.

"Gordon, you have any idea what's going on?" Vincent asked.

"Think I got an idea. Overheard a few people talking about deploying the GFAAU."

"And what's that?"

"G-Force Advanced Assault Unit. Small group of guys, the best guys, with the best equipment, to fight Godzilla."

"A few guys? An army couldn't stop Godzilla before."

"The idea is that a few smaller and faster targets might stand a better chance."

"And all this is for Godzilla? So he's made landfall. Where?"

"I don't… oh man." Gordon stopped as he saw who was coming down the hallway.

It was five men. They were all in black uniforms and heavy looking black armor. It looked like some kind of power armor.

The GFAAU consisted of the best soldiers from around the world. Their identities were wiped clean from the grid. Their only close acquaintances were each other. They had completely devoted their lives to their duty. That sole duty was to combat Godzilla, should he reappear, which he has.

The team leader was a former American black ops agent Glenn Adams. Next was the JSDF's Masahiro Ozaki. Then there was Jason Sterlington from the British Special Forces, Anton Gorodetsky from the Russian Spetsnaz, and Philippe Roaché of the French Foreign Legion.

That was it, five men, five of the world's best soldiers. They made their way to the Gotengo II.

Once aboard, they were debriefed by Admiral Aso.

"I was hoping that this day would never come, men," Aso began addressing the skilled soldiers, "but it's here. A giant monster, confirmed to not be Godzilla, is heading towards Dubai."

A projector turned on and displayed footage taken from a helicopter. It was Gigan racing through the sky with his back fins extended. The video paused when Gigan was most visible.

"Ugly wanker," Jason Sterlington commented.

Admiral Aso continued. "The United Arab Emirates armed forces are on standby ready to launch the attack, but I know they won't keep him back for long. If it's anywhere near as powerful as Godzilla, it's completely capable of leveling that whole city if we don't take it down."

"The situation will soon be in your hands, men," Aso continued. "This is what you've all been living for. My ship will be there offering our full support. Check your equipment. Our ETA is thirty minutes. Good luck."

The admiral left the room. The men relaxed and continued to check their gear. Jason Sterlington spoke up. "I thought we were supposed to be fightin Godzilla. What the hell we doing here."

"If it's something you cannot tackle, Jason, I could do enough work for the two of us," Philippe commented. His English was very good, but his French accent was still thick.

"Shut it!" Jason retorted.

"The beast has many knives. I would get angry and destroy a city if I had knives for hands" Anton exclaimed with a thick Russian accent.

"And we all know your hand is the only thing giving you comfort at night," Philippe joked.

Jason released a loud laugh. Masahiro couldn't help but smirk.

Glenn Adams addressed them all. "Do I need to remind you ladies that we're on a job?! Focus on your mission briefings. We've been training for Godzilla, not this. This is something new… a completely new cell…"

Jason smiled like a jackass at Glenn, "Group photo afterwards?"

"Maybe," Glenn replied with his own subtle grin.

Masahiro remained silent and focused on his equipment.

The city of Dubai: one of the world's most extravagant and fastest growing metropolises. Home the famous Burj Khalifa Tower standing at 2,717 feet tall. Downtown Dubai felt like it was a megalopolis from the future. It practically was.

This paradise in the desert would have grown larger and grander had it not been for Gigan. The city was in flames behind the scythe wielding reaper. Most the military vehicles and aircraft of the United Arab Emirates were destroyed with little effort by Gigan before he even reached the city. The nation's forces were thin. Gigan wasn't even out of breath.

There were still almost 1.5 million citizens in the city. Gigan had arrived so suddenly that no evacuation could even take place. The streets were jammed with cars. Many people tried to get out of the monster's path on foot, but Gigan worked fast.

Five jets screamed past Gigan's head. His glowing red eye targeted each of them in an instant. A red laser burst forth from his eye. As the blast shot out of his eye, a thin layer of his eye propelled with it. The thin layer then shattered and refracted the laser. The separated like a cluster bomb, and hit each of the jets before they could turn around.

Gigan released a screech to the city.

"Gaigan!" Monster X called out telepathically. He was floating just above the spire of the great tower. "Is this puny structure too much of a challenge for you, or have you been dragged down to homasaipan standards?" Monster X taunted Gigan as he outstretched his arms.

"Do not ever question my abilities," Gigan replied.

He stood in the vast shadow of the Burj Khalifa. His eye illuminated with a blinding hot red as he charged his laser for a high powered concentrated blast.

The hellish beam shot forth towards the top of the building. It would have hit Monster X if his reflexes had been slower. The beam blasted away at the side of the skyscraper as it made its way down towards the base. Fiery explosions caused glass, steel, and concrete to rain down on the courtyards below. Gigan then concentrated his fire at the base of the tower, eating away at the substructure. As the subterranean legs of the tower were blasted away, the structure began to wobble and sway. Window panes shattered as the tower bent and buckled under its own 500,000 tons.

Gigan halted his laser as he noticed he no longer needed it. The Earth's tallest tower was falling.

Gigan had managed to only destroy the supports on one face so that the tower would topple over rather than fall into itself.

Both Gigan and Monster X were thinking the same thing: "This is going to be beautiful."

Gigan was standing in the path of the falling skyscraper, scythes outstretched, ready for it. He actually had to wait for a short while as the colossal construction made its way to the Earth. Segments of the tower buckled and crunched all at once. The people that were unfortunate enough to be in the shadow of the tower saw the reflection of the city descend upon them in a wave of dust and chaos. When the tower was about to fall on Gigan, his blades went into a furious blur.

The ground continued to quake after the tower was down collapsing. A two and a half thousand foot long hill of debris and dust stretched across the city.

When the dust cleared, Gigan could be seen standing in the same spot he had been. He had managed to chop and slice the tower as it fell over him, leaving a clean circle around him.

However Gigan's skills were not spot-on as one steel beam had struck him in the head, leaving him dizzy and disorientated as he leaned on his scythe.

Then something inside Gigan's organic brain was forced into his consciousness.

He saw an alien vista with a sky of swirling stars. It was a valley filled with strange foliage. The sky was a strange swirl of orange and red. This almost felt like a dream to Gigan; everything seemed very unclear. Gigan concluded that this was not some kind of fictionalization within his mind. The vision was coming from the area of his brain used for memories. Gigan was highly metacognitive and was able to determine this. This was a memory. And along with this memory was an overwhelming feeling of despair and tragedy. This confused Gigan even more. He knew he must have experienced this, but he didn't know when or where this experience took place.

Gigan snapped out of his vision to see what he had done. The Burj Khalifa was no more.

"Excellent, Gaigan," Monster X said as he hovered high above the crippled city. "Your work is done for the time being. It is time to report to your Keizer."

Gigan collected himself and got to his feet. "Very well," he answered coldly.

In the corner of his eye, Gigan spotted something big and dark flying towards him. He turned to see the Gotengo II speeding towards him. He took a defensive stance and readied himself for a fight. This human weapon would be no problem for him.

But before the ship could reach firing distance, Gigan's form began to spin around uncontrollably. And in a quick flash of light, he was gone.

"Where did he go?!" Aso yelled from the command deck of the Gotengo.

"He's vanished, sir!" one of the crewman responded.

Another crewman announced "No! There's something hovering above the city!"

"Visual!" Aso demanded. The main monitor displayed a video feed of the sky. The camera zoomed in on Monster X glaring directly at the ship. "What in the hell…" Aso began, unable to finish. Then with another bright flash, Monster X was gone. "Stay on alert status. No one let their guard down," Aso ordered his crew.

But the threat was gone for now. The Gotengo was too late.

After almost an hour, Aso lowered the ship's alert level. He instructed the GFAAU and the rest of his crew to head to the streets and aid in the recovery of survivors.

"Awaken, Gigan," said the Erzherzog.

Gigan's eye illuminated as he came to consciousness. He was in a dark, dingy hanger of sorts. He looked to his left and right to see that he was hanging in chains. The massive, thick, and shiny chain links were wrapped tightly around his whole body, especially around his arms and scythes. They were made of space titanium. The chains led into holes in the wall.

"Gigan, acknowledge!" Gigan heard the Erzherzog demand.

Gigan saw the Erzherzog standing on a catwalk several meters in front of him. He quickly lunged forward as far as the chains would allow.

"Ever since I was awoken from my silent sleep," Gigan hissed, "I have been ordered around by beings I do not know. I ask: who are you to make demands of me?"

The Erzherzog didn't flinch an inch when he made his sudden lunge. He stood with his hands behind his back and wore a serious brow over a black visor hiding his eyes. "So, the legends of your hot temper are true," he said. "But I'm damn sure that if you knew who I was, you would cool down pretty quickly."

Gigan glared at the Erzherzog intently awaiting an answer he didn't need to ask.

"I am the Erzherzog, Zero Two of the Xilian Empire," he introduced himself. "And you are the glorious Gigan! It's hard to believe the roaches created such an amazing creature.?

"How did I get here? And why am I in chains?"

"Can't have a naughty boy like you off your leash."

"No one leashes me. You've made a grave mistake."

Gigan's eye began to light up.

The Erzherzog snarled at Gigan. He raised his hand up into a fist. With that motion, sparks and electricity surged through the chains of space titanium and into Gigan's body. His cybernetic circuits frenzied and his organic systems convulsed and burned. A hellish screech ripped through his throat and out of his mouth.

Within his mind, the scene he saw before flashed before him. He saw the alien vista again with a sky of swirling stars. An overwhelming feeling of despair and tragedy flowed over him. He looked down to see a vast forest with huge rivers. The trees were ablaze. The light of the fire outshined the stars. Hideous screams of dying things thickened the moist air. Gigan returned to agonizing pain of the dark hanger.

"Rewrite your software," Erzherzog demanded. "You're mine now."

"What was that?" Gigan grunted, recouping from the shock. "What did you show me?"

Erzherzog looked puzzled. "What are you dribbling about?"

"So real," Gigan whimpered, exhausted from the torture shock.

"Decrepit old machine."

The Erzherzog left, and the lights went out on Gigan.

These visions Gigan were having made him feel something he had never felt for as long had he could remember. He was not programed to feel it. Gigan felt very afraid. He was afraid of a truth that may still exist in his organic memory, a truth that threatened his reason for being.


	7. Ch 6

Chapter 6

Before the Storm

"Our best chance is now, Keizer!" Erzherzog exclaimed to his superior.

Erzherzog stood before the Keizer in the throne room. The throne room was large and mostly empty. It was circular with windows around the whole room overseeing the vastness of space and the far side of Earth's moon.

The Keizer, 01, sat in his throne. He was much older than the Erzherzog. His age could be seen in his face. He had seen dozens of wars and invasions. He had the same pale and veiny skin as his subordinate. He wore long, blue robes that could be called a super modern kimono with many extravagant angles to it. He was bald (not even eyebrows) and wore a black visor like Erzherzog's.

"You fail to surprise me with your reckless attitude, Erzherzog," the Keizer replied.

Erzherzog wanted to throw the old Xilian's words back at him. He was able to refrain. "Keizer, why are we still biding our time? The longer we drag this out, the more likely that damned Monster X will ruin out plans!"

"You are not fond of X?" the Keizer questioned.

"What?" Erzherzog was not expecting that question. "Keizer, if I may express myself: I cannot put as much faith as you do in something we found floating around in space. Also, I feel that he's a bad influence on the Gigan."

The Keizer chuckled. "You are a bad influence on him. He's a sentient being, not a tool. If you forget that, he will only be more disobedient."

Erzherzog hated it when the Keizer criticized him and tried to be a mentor. He felt that the old Xilian was insulting his intelligence. "The activation, Keizer, will it begin?"

The Keizer shifted to one side of his throne and pondered. He took a moment. Erzherzog could not stand still while he waited for the Keizer's decision but paced back and forth.

He finally gave Erzherzog the answer he wanted to hear. "I will trust your judgment. The time is now. I will leave preparations to you."

"Excellent, my Keizer! We will be ready to activate the plan tomorrow."

"Zero shall reign," Keizer concluded.

"Zero shall reign!" an excited Erzherzog finished before he left the throne room.

The Keizer got up from his throne. His body was weary. The window supported him as he looked out. Beyond the moon, he thought, was a thriving planet with billions of intelligent beings. The reason him and the Xilians were here weighed heavy on him.

The Xilian race was on the verge of extinction. They were desperate when they left Planet X. Their last battle forced them to escape to an unknown future. The Earth was their only hope. They did not have enough resources to go anywhere else. Either the Keizer's plan succeeded, or the Xilian race would slip into oblivion. Their enormous mothership, name Chi, and the armada within was all they had left.

The problem was the planet's current inhabitants. The Keizer, along with the rest of the Xilians, knew a kinship was not likely and too much hung in the balance for the Xilian race. They needed to take the planet in one fell swoop. Actually, two fell swoops was the plan.

The Keizer planned on doing anything it took to save his people. He knew, and fully expected, that the six billion humans would do the same if their positions were switched. He could not let them retaliate, or all would be lost.

In a matter of hours, their plan would be unleashed.

It was sunset when Glenn stood on the roof of the G-Force base. He was having a cigarette. He would usually have one after dinner.

Dire concerns swirled in his head. Monsters were on the loose in the world and no one knew where they were. A major city was devastated. Tokyo before him looked so peaceful and serine. "Where did they go?" Glenn thought to himself, "What the hell is going on?"

The roof access door opened. It was Vincent. He shielded his eyes from the sun.

"Hi there," Glenn greeted.

"Hey," Vincent, "Glenn, right? You're the leader of that GFA...?"

"GFAAU, yah," Glenn replied with his cigarette in his teeth.

"Ah, sorry," Vincent said, feeling a little awkward. He figured he would ask Glenn something. "So, you're really trained to fight Godzilla?

"That's what they told us at the training camp," Glenn replied. "But it's not surprising that the universe threw us a curveball. I'm almost glad that thing in Dubai vanished. We still have no idea what that was. I wasn't prepared." Glenn smirked. "I guess I'm getting to be a rusty boy scout."

"You're a scout?" Vincent asked?

"Sure am," Glenn replied.

"What rank did you make it to?" Vincent asked. He suspected that he was an Eagle Scout. It was the highest rank a Boy Scout could attain and demonstrates that the scout had strong leadership skills. Only a very few scouts every year reached the rank.

"Eagle," Glenn answered.

"I suspected." Vincent said, "I only made it to Life." The Life Scout rank was the rank just below Eagle. "I didn't really have what it takes to be a very good leader."

"Don't be too hard on yourself," Glenn leaned on the railing, "I've seen other Eagles turn out to be nobodies and kids who quit the scouts before they made Star Rank turn out to be great. The rank doesn't really mean that much."

"That so?" Vincent asked.

"Yep," Glenn said. The two stood silent for a moment. Glenn remembered his day camping with his scout troop. He spoke back up. "But back in my old troop," he cocked a grin at Vincent, "I would have the authority to assign you to latrine duties whenever I wanted."

The two had a laugh.

The visions were blurry and faint as they wisped through Gigan's mind. The vast conflagration haunted him. He was not certain if these visions were memories or not. But he was certain of one thing, they were getting clearer each time he saw them. He saw a little bit more each time he tried to access the vision in his head.

He relaxed. The cybernetic parts of his systems slowed down while his organic muscles relaxed. The red light in his eye dimmed lower and lower still until it was almost black.

Gigan stood in the silent blackness of his own mind. He focused intently to see the vision again. He saw the flames. Whenever he brought forth the images, or they came forth to him, strong emotions accompanied them. The feeling was almost alien to Gigan. It had not been in his basic programing. It came from the organic parts of his brain. The emotion he was experiencing was despair, a great feeling of sadness over loss. As the endless valley of trees burned, Gigan had noticed what he had not been able to before.

There was screaming. The screams came from some kind of alien creatures.

"Hey, wake up," said a faint voice from far away.

Gigan tried to focus harder to un-blur his vision.

"Gigan!" yelled the voice of the Erzherzog.

In a snap, the red light of his eye shot back on. Gigan lunged forward with a screeching cry.

The Erzherzog's hair was blown back, his visor had been knocked away, and his eyes were wide with surprise. His eyes were blue; a trait seen in no other Xilian. That is why he often whore his visor.

Not even the second in command of the Xilian Empire could get used to a monster like Gigan lunging forth and screaming in his face. "That," he said as he fixed his hair, "was uncalled for."

"Why do you wake me?!" Gigan asked with a fiery rage.

"Drop the attitude and I'll tell you!" the Erzherzog held his open hand up ready to activate the electric shocks with his hand gesture. Gigan backed away while hissing a low screechy growl. The last time he got shocked, it fried some of his circuits. "Good boy," the Erzherzog continued. "The reason I'm here is to let you know our attack is imminent."

"Good luck with that. Do tell me how it goes," Gigan retorted.

"Cut the crap! We're sending you down. You're opening!" he smiled.

"I'm flattered, but I am not invincible. The humans are surly on high alert. How can we take a planet with an advanced race living on it?" Gigan asked. "You're weak excuse for an empire is nothing compared to what the Nebulans had, assuming what X told me of their decline is true."

"We're not using our ships," the Erzherzog's grin grew. "We're using Earth's own army of kaiju."

"'Army?" Gigan was surprised. "How do they have more than one? How is the planet not a wasteland?"

"Apparently they've all been asleep for a very long time. So you won't be alone. You'll have a team of… oh what was it," the Erzherzog thought for a second, "yes, eight other kaiju."

"Fine," Gigan agreed, not really having a choice.

"Great!" the Erzherzog was delighted as he held one finger up. "One more thing!"

Gigan made an audible sigh.

"You will be receiving aid from us in the form of this." The Erzherzog summoned a hose down from the ceiling high above. It had frightening metallic teeth on it. It looked like a demented worm as it snaked down towards Gigan. It lunged into Gigan and sunk its teeth into his left arm.

"What the hell is it doing?" Gigan asked.

"Think of it as… a little kick start."

A strange substance flowed through the hose. It was a clear light blue. It seemed to be acidic; the hose appeared to be smoking as the fluid ran through it. The substance plunged into Gigan's arm. It felt like it was singeing his skin. He screeched as it scorched his veins.

Visions of his dreams flashed before him, emotions and all. But as the substance filled his systems, the visions were drowned. They were gone. Normally Gigan would always feel the visions haunting him. They were always faintly present. He quickly realized that this substance made the pain of his forgotten past dissipate.

The burn eventually turned into numbness. He was comfortably numb, heaven compared to the hell of his usual state of being. While it felt numb, it also felt exhilarating. A rush of excitement raced through his whole body.

The Erzherzog left Gigan in his high.

He walked down a shiny metallic hall and into a room with several platforms on the ground. He stood on one and put his fist to his chest. With a flash of light, he was gone from the room.

An instant later, he was in another similar room. He walked out into a different hallway. Ahead of him was a grand decorated door. It was the Keizer's quarters and office. Usually if any Xilian beneath the Keizer in rank (all of them) was invited to his quarters, they entered with the utmost respect and solemness for the Keizer who was the closest to Zero: the center of Xilian culture and beliefs.

The Erzherzog walked in like he owned the place.

"Is all ready?" the Keizer asked as he gazed out into his view of the stars.

The Erzherzog clapped his hands and rubbed them together as if he were ready to do some work. "It most certainly is, my Keizer! The Gigan is 'juiced up' and shall be in full gear once we put him down on the planet. The transmitters that will be controlling the monsters are ready as well."

The Erzherzog grew a devilish grin on his face.

The Keizer could feel his grin behind him. He always knew that the Erzherzog was not the most stable minded of Xilians, but he knew that he could get the job done every time due to his peculiar nature.

"I have faith that you shall deliver this planet to the Xilians, Erzherzog. I only wish you would not be so headstrong while doing it. We haven't even launched our main plan and you are acting as if we have already won."

"I am sorry, my Keizer," the Erzherzog said without sorrow, and with a hint of sarcasm like an adolescent being told to get back to work. "However, we do have an army of monsters at our disposal. The likelihood of us failing is very slim." He still had that grin on his face.

The Keizer sighed at the thought. He had been bearing the weight of the situation for years now.

"I only wish there was another way other than committing mass murder on an intelligent race."

"Intelligent?!" The Erzherzog replied. "They have a beautiful planet rich with minerals and precious, precious water and they waste it while our people die of dehydration. More important than our people is the planet itself. A jewel in middle of an infinite desert is too precious to give to destructive animals. It is better off in our hands."

"Yes, I suppose you are right." The Keizer agreed. He went over to a metallic cabinet under a DNA recognition lock. The Keizer placed his hand upon it and it opened up. He pulled out two fine cups composed of space titanium and a pitcher made of the same material. He poured into the two cups the most precious substance to the Xilians, dihydrogen monoxide: water. He handed a glass to the Erzherzog.

The subordinate looked into his water. The clear fluid was mesmerizing to him as he did not see it often. A lesser ranked, lesser privileged Xilian would go mad, or even kill another for a sip. "I still can't understand why we do not simply kill them all. Why use the plot of replacing their world leaders with puppets?"

"We are not monsters," said the Keizer. "We are, however, desperate. If you had led as many wars as I have in my lifetime, you would know that a peaceful and silent invasion is far more effective. The only reason we are using the monsters is because we need to gain the Earthlings trust fast and get our people down into the planet. They can't last much longer. Our onboard reserves from Mars have been dry for days now," The Keizer looked into his own cup of water. When he said "reserves," he meant the reserves meant for the masses. He had his own reserve. He hated hoarding water to himself, but his people needed their leader at his best. That was the rational he told himself.

The Erzherzog looked at the Keizer seriously. "We shall be heroes, my Keizer. No, legends!" he raised his cup. "Saviors of the Xilian race."

The Keizer rose his own cup. He took off his thin visor and said nothing.

The Erzherzog looked into the Keizer's eyes. "I swear to you, my Keizer, we shall deliver our species to salvation. I swear to you and I swear to Zero that I will do absolutely anything to save our people."

The devotion of his second in command gave him some joy.

"You have work to do, my friend. Zero shall reign," the Keizer said.

"Zero shall reign," replied the Erzherzog.

The Keizer walked back over to his observation window with his water. "Release all Kaiju, Erzherzog!" he commanded.

"With all my pleasure, my Keizer!" the Erzherzog turned around, boots skidding on the sleek floor, and left the Keizer's quarters, devilish grin and all.

A dorsal spine broke the surface of the ocean off the shore of Infant Island. Godzilla emerged and made his way to the beach. His feet met the wet sand and sank deep. He slouched as he walked. His spirit was still broken.

It had been a long time since he had been on a tropical Island. The last time he felt sand between his toes, he was with his son. They would swim offshore and search for food. Godzilla remembered when Minilla caught his first whale. He wrestled with it for a while, but eventually got his prey back to the shore. Minilla would also want to play while swimming with his father, but would usually end up getting smacked in the head for not focusing on hunting. Then again, there were times when Godzilla would give in and play a form of tag with Minilla.

The colorful wings of Mothra appeared from behind a mountain. The moth rested on the top.

"I hope you didn't plan on throwing one of your fits here on my island." she asked.

Godzilla tried to stand tall and strong, but Mothra saw something missing.

"Where is your spirit? Where is the fury in your eyes?"

Godzilla's eyes were cooled, the fire had been extinguished. He was giving up.

"Do you come now to lend your aid or do you still feel as though you owe nothing to this world?"

Godzilla grunted when he felt Mothra prod him with the question. A small rage ignited in his eyes then. The only world worth saving to him was a world with his son.

"If you are not here to fight the storm, then why have you heaved yourself upon my shore?" Mothra was becoming aggravated.

Godzilla wasn't sure himself. He had nowhere else to go and no one to turn to. He wanted peace. That is all he ever wanted.

"You wish for peace while the world gets torn asunder by the fires of war? Well I'm sorry, but I don't know how you can get that. Did you think I was all knowing?"

Godzilla couldn't fight in a war anyway. He barely stood a chance against Monster X.

"Not all is lost for you, Gojira. I can't deliver you peace. That you will have to find yourself. However, I can deliver you to vengeance."

Godzilla's head rose in attention.

"The invaders will come in a massive flying moon. When they come, I will tell you where. There you'll find the demon who slew your son."

That was the answer Godzilla wanted. He would wait and rest until his time came.


	8. Ch 7

Chapter 7

All Monsters Attack

12:04 am:

The waters of Loch Ness mirrored the black and starry sky above. Beneath the dark and murky waters, the loch floor rumbled and shifted. It caused the water to ripple and wave above.

One guard that was patrolling the grounds of Urquhart Castle just happened to be looking out over the loch. He loved the loch and frequently went boating to clear his head (and to get away from his nagging wife). He found it most beautiful in the middle of the night. It was the loneliest place in the world then and he loved it for that. He liked being by himself. Little did the guard know that for all of his years walking castle grounds, he was not alone. His company was sleeping beneath the loch that whole time.

It was then that he noticed an area out in the middle of the huge lake that looked like it was boiling over. Water was being disturbed and forced upward violently. He shined his spotlight towards the area.

Then something rose from the white waves. It had a serpentine figure and was dark blue-green. It had the head of a dragon with large horns on the sides. It had long, dagger like fangs.

The monster shot up from the surface into the air. It was incredibly long, around nine-hundred and eighty feet from head to tail. A row of spines ran down its endless back. It had four short legs with webbed hands. The tail fanned out into an enormous fin three times the width of the beast's body and made up about two-hundred feet of the its total length. Higher and higher it jumped until the man saw its silhouette against the moon. It splashed back into the water.

The immediate thing the man though was "the Loch Ness Monster." While the kaiju very well could have been called that, its name was Manda.

The guard, shocked by what he had seen, shined his light at the area where the serpent had descended.

The guard's spotlight glinted in Manda's eye beneath the water. It caught the monster's attention. He swam towards the castle.

Erupting from the water again, Manda loomed directly over the man with menace.

The man fell backwards and shined his bright light in Manda's face.

Not liking that, Manda released a roaring hiss and expanded his neck hood like an angry cobra. The guard threw the light and jumped away just before Manda struck downwards at the nuisance.

Having killed the light, Manda turned his attention south west and swam away swiftly.

After the guards had come to his wits, he picked himself up and ran to the nearest phone to call the police.

Manda raced southwest to the loch's exit. Being able to propel himself through water at nearly a hundred miles an hour, he was out in no time and racing down the River Oich and into Loch Oich. From there he jumped from river and loch, leaving a flooding wake behind him, until he had reached the ocean. Then he turned south traveling between Ireland and the United Kingdom. In the open ocean, Manda could reach his top speed of around two hundred miles per hour.

At this point, the British military had known of an unknown monster leaving Loch Ness, but their satellites could not track it moving under water and in the dark. They would get their first clue about its trajectory when reports came in from people spotting a giant serpentine body speeding through the ocean off the coast of the Isle of Man. Reports of a similar creature came in frequently. In a world where giant monsters were a threat, citizens reported such sightings immediately. The British military tracked Manda moving extremely fast southward, around the southern peninsula, and then eastward through the English Channel. When the serpent turned into Beacon Bay, its goal became obvious. Military vehicles and aircraft were deployed.

Making the trip around Britain from Loch Ness to Beacon Bay took Manda a mere three hours. He twisted down the River Thames and emerged from the waves to see a grand old city: London.

Tanks were lined up on London Bridge. As soon as they saw Manda, they opened fire. The shells overshot the beast; the soldiers had underestimated its speed.

Manda swam under the bridge. The soldiers turned around to see their target swim right past them. Most did not see their target's tail standing upright out of the water. Manda's powerful tail took out the old bridge in one hit. London Bridge had fallen down.

The military continued to fire at Manda. This angered him. He would take out the military's forces, and the city would be his.

1:04 am:

Some animals slept and others hunted in the dark. The insects, however, outnumbered them all. They flew and scurried about in the moonlight that shone down over the jungle of the Congo. If the tiny creatures that were endlessly preyed upon were the size of men, then some of them would undoubtedly be the dominant species on Earth; the most deadly being the mantis.

Suddenly every bird, insect, and animal took off in any direction other than south. They all heard what sounded like thunder clapping twenty times a second. Only a few seconds after the buzzing could be heard came its makers. There were six of them; six mantises, each three hundred feet long, flying north over the African jungle. They were brownish green with a venomous red tipping the thorny spikes on their backs and sides as well as the deadly serrations on their scythes. Their large vibrant wings flapped swiftly; colored with striped earth tones.

They came from beneath the deepest and thickest parts of the Congo jungle; parts few, if any, men had traversed. They were the Kamacuras.

The deadly mantises continued to fly and screech over the nations of Africa. They managed to avoid flying over any large cities, only small towns and villages. That was how they went undetected by any military power until they were seen over Tripoli still heading north over the Mediterranean Ocean. Like most insects, the Kamacuras were flying towards the bright lights, the City of Lights.

4:34 am:

The village of Pibiting was nestled in the valley of Zanskar, about 350 miles north of New Delhi.

Nearly all the villagers were in bed. Being a little town in northern India, not near any ocean, they slept easy knowing kaiju like Godzilla wouldn't likely be visiting them. They wouldn't be free of this fear much longer.

They were awakened by the roar of a mountain being torn apart. The people ran outside just in time to see the mountain side that shadowed their ancient and holy temple be blown apart in a manner similar to the eruption of Mount Saint Helens. A tidal wave of billowing dust spewed over the town along with rocks and boulders the size of small cars.

Beyond the thick dust, in the direction of the ancient temple, was the sound of heavy impacts on the ground. The people could hear their temple being demolished. The destructor soon revealed itself to those unlucky ones to be close enough to see it in the engulfing cloud of dust and dirt.

The monster walked on four legs and made a wail that completely muted all sound within its vicinity. The dust settled and the villagers who were not caught in the beast's path gazed upon it. Spiked armor plating adorned its back. More spikes covered its tail. Forward curved horns lined its forehead and one horn topped its snout.

The kaiju Anguirus marched south towards the Indian capital.

5:04 am:

The mountains of Kazakhstan rested peacefully as they had for thousands of years. The giants slept so calmly that the tiniest of snowflakes could sleep pleasantly in a blanket of white. The mountains could have been considered the epitome of motionlessness.

There was a small village not unlike Pibiting in the valley below. It was home to less than a hundred villagers. Warm candle light lit the windows of the cottages. The valley ran east and west, so when the sun went down, the moon was there to make sure that the little village was never in complete darkness. Someone was keeping an eye on that valley that night, but it was not the illuminating moon.

The mountain to the north of the village began to shake. The snowy tops shifted a little. As the mountain moved more and more, so did the snow until the ever so fragile structure of the snow gave away. The massive tsunami of snow thundered towards the little village.

Many of the village's inhabitants had been awoken by the quake and were horrified to witness an avalanche heading right for them. The ones that had woken up in time grabbed their family and anything else they could in the precious seconds they had to get away.

The wall of snow smashed into the houses, destroying a few.

The frightful villagers looked up at the trembling mountain looming over them. Chunks of it were falling off. Boulders were tumbling down into the valley. The people moved further back for safety. To their horror, it appeared that the top of the mountain was falling apart. The numerous landslides filled the valley with dust. The people moved even further back to escape the dust so they could breathe. The ground shook violently as the mountain was being torn apart. After a few moments, the magnitude of the quake had subsided.

When the dust cleared, the source for the mayhem was visible. Standing atop what used to be the mountain was a devilish winged thing. It stood around three-hundred and twenty feet tall. It spread its wings out, hiding the entire village from the moon's glow. Its wingspan reached close to seven-hundred hundred feet. It had dark red skin and two devilish horns on its head pointing backwards. Its chest was armor plated with spikes. The creature stretched its wings as it released a cry. It was unlike anything the villagers had ever heard or could ever have imagined.

Some of the older villagers knew what this creature was. A scarce legend known by very few claimed that the mountain overseeing the village was the resting place of an ancient being, a creature from an age before man walked the Earth. The old legend named the winged beast Rodan.

Rodan turned around and began flapping his wings. He took off to the north.

Moments later, the Russian Air Force was made aware of the flying creature and its trajectory.

Several MiG-25 jet fighters were launched. When they intercepted Rodan, he flew past them before they could open fire. The fighters attempted to pursue Rodan, but in vain. He was flying faster than the jets' top speed before risking damage to their engines: Mach 2.8.

The jet pilots reported back to their base that the monster was making on a course for Moscow.

7:04 am:

The Forbidden City, China. The sun had met the grand city with beauty. The sun beams illuminated the vibrant colors of the temples. The sacred gardens flourished in the sunlight.

The ever vigilant guardian lions sat motionless. They greeted the sun as well. In the daylight, the full forms of the lions could be seen with their royal manes and strong, dominant builds.

Visitors were beginning to enter the courtyard in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the largest and most extravagant hall in the Imperial City.

It was looking to be a beautiful day.

But just like every other unfortunate place in the world at that moment, the ground began to quake violently beneath the magnificent city. The wooden beams of the hall shifted and splintered. The marble floors cracked and jutted up.

The people outside saw the sacred temple fall apart from the shaking. Then, to the people's horror, they saw something burst up from beneath the old hall and explode through the roof.

The wooden beams and dust cleared from its face. It was a lion. It was one of the Chinese guardian lions destroying its own holy temple. It reached out of the he with one of its great three clawed paws and pulled itself out. Once out and in the morning sunlight, it could be seen that the creature resembled a mix between a lion and a dog. Hard and powerful muscles built its body. It roared as its swirling mane and long ears swayed left and right. Three swirl shaped crests sat on its head in a triangular formation. What looked like gold adorned its brow with a jeweled crest in the middle. Beneath its brow were red, ruby like glowing eyes. It then sat like a dog.

This was most certainly not the ancient guardian lion of Chinese legend. This was King Caesar.

Then things got worse; twice as worse. Another lion-like roar came from hole that was once the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Another three clawed paw emerged from the depths. The fleeing people's heart rates doubled as they saw another Caesar come forth. This one had no golden crests on its head. She was more cunning and sleek. Less muscle, but could move much faster. Queen Caesar joined her king.

And so the two dogs of war set off into the city of Beijing with a ruby red fire in their eyes.

8:04 am:

The Han River in Seoul, South Korea was calm as picnickers looked over it.

A woman was chatting with a very handsome man that had approached her. He was tall with spiked hair. The woman had a son. She turned her head to check on him. Immediately, her attention was taken away from the man when she saw that her son was not at the picnic mat. She frantically looked around until she saw her son's familiar striped shirt. He was throwing pieces of his octopus in the river. She ran to him.

"Gang-Doo!" the worried mother scolded at her son in their native tongue. "You know you are not to leave my sight! And stop wasting your food!"

"But look, mama, lobsters! And crabs!" The boy pointed towards the water.

On the bed of the river were various crustaceans; crabs, lobsters, crawfish, shrimp. The river seemed to be filled with them.

People had already grouped at the land's edge. Hundreds upon hundreds of shellfish massing on the bottom of the Han River was, obviously, very strange. Even stranger, every single one of the little crustaceans was facing in the same direction, almost like they were waiting to see something. And more stranger still was the rippling water in the middle of the wide river.

The people got very nervous when the water began to shift and bubble beneath a large bridge. With the news buzzing about the two monster attacks (as far as they knew) the first thing to enter everybody's mind was giant monster. And, to their horror, they would be very, very right.

Unlike the other kaiju who arose in rural areas and made their way towards urban cities, the monster crustacean Ebirah just happen to pop up right where he was meant to be.

With a splash, a massive claw shot up from the river. It latched onto the bridge. People along the river ran. The people on the bridge leaped out of their vehicles and ran as well.

Ebirah used the bridge to pull himself up from beneath the riverbed.

He was a bright red with forward jutting horns all over his shell. He had antennae as long as his full length. His cry was a high pitched screech.

The monster proceeded to tear the obstructing bridge apart with his large, crushing claw and his smaller, slicing claw. He cut the construction in half and threw it out of his way like it was nothing. Due to his natural radiation, Ebirah, and the millions of crayfish around him, had mutated and developed lungs. He and his army were, amazingly, amphibious crustaceans.

His six insect like legs carried him onto land as he led his army into the city.

Ebirah, however, would have to do most of the work when it came to destruction.

9:04 am:

On the island of Tasmania was a beautiful conservation area in Table Cape. The cape was on the northern shore of Tasmania.

Pleasant grassy plains stretched up and down hills until they suddenly dropped into a sheer cliff. The area resembled a plateau with its steep side and flat top, but it was actually a volcanic plug. It sat on top of a large volcano, and the plug held the pressure in like the top on a bottle of soda. And atop this flat volcanic plug, quaintly, was a nice little lighthouse at the edge of the cliff.

A family of tourists, a mother, father, and two children, were hiking towards the lighthouse. It was turning out to be a very nice morning. The mother and father were enjoying themselves. The kids, however, were a bit grumpy. They would never dream of getting up this early to go on a stupid hike in Tasmania.

And then the earth began to shake. It quaked to the point that the family could not keep their footing.

Everyone there was terrified. They knew that the area was a volcanic plug and thought that the volcano beneath was erupting. The parents grabbed their children and ran the opposite way. Little did they know that the earth was releasing something more devastating and much faster than a lava flow.

The son looked back as his father pulled him in time to see the ground burst up. But what came up from the ground was not what the child was expecting.

A creature rose up and shook the dirt off its lizard-like head. Long, muscular arms with claws followed. Large dorsal fins adorned its back; almost like Godzilla's. It pulled itself completely out from the earth and stood tall. Its stance was like that of a t-rex. It let the morning sun warm its reptilian skin. Its skin was dark brown with a few grey spots as if it were camouflaging with the ground it had just broken free from.

It let out a cry to address the world that had greeted him after his slumber. Even its roar resembled Godzilla's, but a lot more high pitched. As it turned around, its long tail whooshed far above the family's heads. The massive lizard charged for the cliff with the little lighthouse. Just before it seemed like the lighthouse was going to be crushed be the monster, the monster leaped over it and dove far out into the Bass Strait. When it plunged into the ocean, its skin changed both color and texture. It shifted from earthy brown and rocky to ocean blue and very smooth.

It headed north-east. Soon, the citizens of Sydney, Australia would be greeted to The Lizard King: Zilla.

Something inside Zilla's head was urging him to swim north-east to one specific location not too far from where he woke up. He thought he would find it when he got there and searched around a bit.

Zilla would be at his destination soon as he was an extremely adept swimmer. After the family had witnessed his awakening, they had driven back into town and reported what they had seen to the police.

Zilla was already on the beach of Flinders Island. The small, sparsely populated island north east of Tasmania had vast farm lands and green rolling hills. Zilla enjoyed sprinting across the wide open island at top speed as he left a trail of footprints behind him. Zilla was also an adept runner. He could easily outrun or outswim any other Kaiju, even Godzilla.

4:04 pm:

It was a blistering afternoon in the Mojave Desert.

A lonely obese man sat in his small trailer. His little abode smelled of garbage and the sweaty nether regions of an ass.

The regular pizza delivery drivers loathed driving out so far to his trailer, getting hit by the wall of stink when he opened the door, then getting stiffed any kind of tip on top of it. They wouldn't have to worry about him for much longer.

The one thing the man hated most of all was when his TV antenna got moved and lost the signal (he suspected the pizza boys). He would be too lazy to go outside and adjust it, so he just watched static for the rest of the day.

On that blistering hot day, the fat man's signal went out. He released a whine. He had not noticed at first that the ground beneath his trailer was steadily rising on an angle. He had not noticed until things began to fall off their shelves and the TV slid off its stand.

Outside, the lonely little trailer sat in the middle of a two hundred foot diameter circle of earth that was being lifted up. The circle of earth rose up at a slant. The poor fat man never had a chance as his trailer, half filled with garbage, tumbled down the slope.

It looked like a trap door slowly creaking open. Then out came two long legs of a massive arthropod; segmented and having hairs. Eight little eyes shimmered from the darkness of the hole. The creature crawled out of its lair with its eight legs. It was beast from an arachnophobic's worst night terrors. Kumonga, the monstrous, black and orange striped spider, emerged into the desert.

Kumonga would not normally come out from its hole in the daylight. He would normally spin a web all around his trap door and collect his prey at night. Something was driving him to arise and act.

The hairs all over his body felt the air; a great commotion came from the southwest. The spider-like monster could see the city in his eight eyes. That was where he was urged to go. A city of lights, sounds, and sin: Las Vegas.

1:04 am:

The most sacred city to Catholics all around the world: Vatican City.

A beautiful golden glow scattered off the brick roads. Saint Peter's Basilica stood extravagantly as it overlooked the square and Rome beyond. It was the symbol of Catholicism's strength and reach over the entire world.

It was where God's presence was strongest. That is what a man walking the empty square thought. He had always looked to his faith for strength then he felt lost. It was what he was raised to believe in. His mother, whom he missed frequently, prayed every day. She used to tell the man that God will always be watching him and will protect him as long as he remains a good Catholic. He walked up to the holy obelisk in the middle of the square and placed his hand on it. Looking up, he saw the cross on top.

The man had lost much. In the past year he had lost his job, his mother had passed, his wife had left him, and his only son had declared himself a homosexual. Being a devout Catholic, he could not accept his son and disowned him. His son killed himself shortly after.

The poor man looked up at the holy symbol and asked "Why, God? Why has my whole life turned into this hell?"

There was no reply. There was only the cold wind of the night.

The man's faith was so deep, and his desperation so high, that he almost expected a heavenly voice to answer him.

"Is there anybody there?" he asked. "Is there a God out there listening to me?!" he yelled aloud.

It was then that a whispering cackle rang in the man's ears.

He looked straight up, nearly falling backwards. "Is there someone their?!"

With cracks of thunder, yellow lightning bolts jumped from cloud to cloud above.

"Is that you, Lord?!" he yelled.

An insidious voice answered. "I have been since the birth of this universe and I have never seen this being you call upon. If it is the hand that had part in forming this universe that you call for, then here I am..."

As a devilish shriek came down from the heavens, so did what looked like a spiraling tornado of yellow lighting.

The lone man in the square raised his arms in defense.

When the formation collided with the grounds of Vatican Square, it dissipated.

The no longer alone man lowered his arms. Before him stood what he knew in his heart as the devil himself. "Satan!" the man declared.

Monster X knelt down until he was in the man's face. "God...," he said telepathically.

He stood up. His eyes, the two on his face and the two on his half-heads, lit up. Streams of lightning spewed forth into the surrounding city, lighting it up. The hell fires danced around ferociously as they ate the city.

Monster X turned around to see the Saint Peter's Basilica. The colossal cathedral was dwarfed by the beast. He lifted his foot and kicked it down upon the dome. Then he set his lightning upon the entire building. Within a moment, nearly all of Vatican City was in flames and rubble. It was demolished, gone, but Monster X was still not satisfied.

The worst monster by far continued his grand rampage into Rome.


	9. Ch 8

Chapter 8

Kaiju World War

And so, at the exact same time all around the world, the kaiju rose up from the earth. Without warning, sixteen giant monsters were set loose upon the world. Peculiarly, they all headed for the biggest and most populated cities.

As their homes burned, the people believed that they were witnessing the end times.

Some people expected the world's end to be in the form of nuclear war, or an asteroid, or natural disasters, but few expected an army of marching monsters.

The cost of the attack would be unimaginable. The damage, unrepairable. The combined armies of the world hardly stood a chance.

Not even the GFAAU was prepared to handle such an assault. However, it would not stop them from trying.

Manda, the Kamacuras, Anguirus, Rodan, the Caesars, Ebirah, Zilla, Kumonga, and Monster X were set onto the Earth. The cyborg Gigan also joined in, being teleported into the middle of Tokyo.

Mankind had driven away the only help that could have done anything. The tired, beaten, and still heartbroken Godzilla was resting on Infant Island.

Mothra, the old deity, was unsuitable for heavy combat and was resting as well.

Mankind was on their own. Their chances of success were extremely slim, just as planned.

It was a little after eight in the morning.

Vincent was in his lab with a few other of his assistants getting ready to run tests on the G-cells.

Then sirens went off again.

Vincent turned the television on. Several people, apparently frightened, were talking in boxes on the news.

From what Vincent would make out, it sounded like mass chaos had engulfed multiple parts of the world. Then the word "monsters" came up, multiple times. Everyone on the show seemed confused.

What really made Vincent's stomach sink was when the news feed rolling on the bottom of the screen began to list cities, a lot of cities, major cities all over the world.

One guest on the show mentioned the end of the world. At that moment, Vincent honestly believed it. The last city Vincent read was Tokyo.

The monster that had attacked Dubai had appeared in Tokyo.

Vincent was heading for the deeper part of the base for safety when saw a man in a Gotengo II engineer's uniform with a very familiar build. The mustache was a giveaway too.

Despite his efforts to cover his face with a cap, Gordon was discovered by his friend.

"Gordon?!" Vincent was surprised. "What are you doing?"

"Ah man! I didn't want you seein' me like this. I got on her, Vince! I signed up when we got here and passed all the tests! I'm an engineer on the Gotengo!"

"Do have any idea of what's going on? Every major city on Earth is attacked by these giant monsters! That ship doesn't stand a chance!" Vincent pleaded.

"Well, to be honest, I'm also hoppin' on the ship cuz' I thought it was safer than this hole," Gordon smirked. "Plus, I really wanna get out'a here."

"Damn it, Gordon," Vincent stressed. "Have you snapped?"

"Well, ya. But that's beside the point." Gordon winked and slapped Vincent on the back as he walked past him.

Gordon made his way to the Gotendo hanger.

His eyes widened as he saw the great airship gearing up. Restraint arms were being removed. Steam spewed out of vents along the hull. This was what he had been waiting for: a chance to serve on the Gotengo II. A part of him feared that one of the monsters could easily tear the ship apart if they got the chance, but he had faith in her.

"Men, this was a tough decision," Aso began as he stood before the fully suited up GFAAU. "But I made it having complete confidence in you all. The five of you are going to split up."

"We've got a bloody monster here in Tokyo!" Jason proclaimed. "Why don't we gang up on this one first?"

"The G-Force can handle Tokyo since our base is right here. Also, you'll have full backing and partial control of the respective nations' militaries," Aso answered.

Glenn lit up a cigarette. "You're splitting up the men you trained to function as a unit."

"Men..." Aso started. His voice changed. It went from its usual powerful and stern tone to a softer, more open and vulnerable tone. "I know this seems crazy. I know it seems like a suicide mission. But the entire world is engulfed in fear. Everything is plunging into chaos. We're all doing our parts. I need you to do yours."

"Fignya!" Anton cursed.

"You can count on us, Admiral," Glenn answered. "Where's our first stop?"

The Gotengo II revved up its engines in the hanger. It wasn't going to lift off out from the huge sliding doors in used to come in. For launching, the ship used a tunnel that led into Tokyo Bay. It would emerge outside the city to avoid any giant monsters and gain the advantage of ranged attacks first.

Andiral Aso was not piloting the Gotengo. He needed to remain at G-Force base and lead the global operation. He had put a different captain at the helm of the airship: Captain Emmerich. Emmeric was sent over from Germany to gain experience captioning an airship because Germany was working on it's own airship program.

"Are we set to go, XO?" Captain Emmerich called out.

"All set, captain!" the XO replied.

"Launch Gotengo!" Captain Emmerich ordered.

And with that, the Gotengo II began its run out of the long launch tunnel. Its jets burned white hot. Its drill spun faster and faster. Sliding doors slammed shut behind the ship. Then Sliding doors opened up in front of it. Water from Tokyo Bay came flooding in. The ship's drill aided in plowing through the rushing water as it left the tunnel and entered Tokyo Bay. Then it broke the surface and jetted away from the city.

Unfortunately, the cyborg Gigan had turned his raging red eye in the airship's direction. There was something different about his eye It looked brighter and redder. There were also what looked like huge cracks within it.

Gigan's red fins fanned out as he leapt into the air. He headed towards the ship.

"Captain! The cyborg monster is gaining on us!" a crew woman informed.

"Oh my god! We just got out of the hanger!" Emmerich complained. "Accelerate!"

The crew woman looked at her monitor. "Captain, the calculations show that it's impossible for us to out run the cyborg if it maintains its current velocity."

"Son of a…" The captain put his hand to his forehead in frustration.

Gordon was at a terminal behind the captain keeping track of engine temperatures. He did not trust this new captain.

"What kind of armaments do we have?" Captain Emmerich asked.

The crew didn't respond. It was a very unusual question coming from a captain. Emmerich knew nothing about what he was in charge of.

"The full metal missiles'll slow the bastard down," Gordon murmured.

The captain had heard Gordon. "Lock on and fire full metal missiles!" he ordered.

Six missiles shot out the sides of the ship with white streams of smoke behind them. They curved backwards and had Gigan dead in their sights. One pair almost hit the monster, but he ducked and they flew past him right between his fins. The next pair was not outsmarted by Gigan. They were about to hit, but both were destroyed by Gigan's laser. As Gigan flew through the cloud of flames made by the explosion, he was caught off guard by the last pair of full metal missiles. Gigan went from seven hundred miles per hour to zero in an instant. He plummeted and crashed into the bay below.

"Direct hit. Target neutralized." The crewwoman reported.

"Good. Now let's get to Seoul," said the captain, relieved.

Below, Gigan looked up at the escaping ship. He wanted to pursue it, but an order that echoes in his crazed head told him to stay in the city.

Gigan was not as he was in Dubai. The substance was in his blood and in his brain. He was not thinking straight, which was probably why he got hit by those missiles. The acidic like substance made him go mad. But to him, it was a good kind of mad. One could see it in his eye. What should have been a deep, smooth red looked like broken glass that was leaking blood. Gigan was not controlling his body, the substance was. Gigan felt it as numbness and power combined into a strange mixture.

Tanks and jets approached. Gigan heard them. He turned his head and saw a massive army that hungered for his blood. He would give them none.

With a leap and a wild flurry of blades and red lasers, Gigan began to wipe out the army.

Soon afterwards, the Gotengo was approaching the city of Seoul where the monster Ebirah was waging his assault.

"I'm sorry we couldn't be introduced under better circumstances," Captain Emmerich told the members of G-Force, "but I'm proud to be able to direct a fine group like yourselves."

None of the members of G-Force replied. They could sense something lacking in him, something Admiral Aso had.

"Well, then," the response made Emmerich feel awkward. "Mr. Ozaki… or, uh, Ozaki San? or Mr..., you'll be deployed shortly. Are you ready?"

"Yes, sir," Masahiro replied unenthusiastically.

"Good luck, soldier!" Emmerich said with a smile. Then he left.

The smile made everyone sick. Glenn could not understand how a man can send another man to his potential death while throwing that fake smile in his face. He knew that sending each of the members out by themselves was next to murder. He also knew that they had no other choice.

Glenn approached Masahiro. "Ozaki," he said as he placed a hand on the soldier's shoulder, "You got this."

"Thanks, Glenn," Masahiro said.

Glenn was surprised Masahiro had said anything. He patted him on the back again and left with the others.

Masahiro began to suit up. While he was putting on his gravity armor, he wished he had said more to Glenn. He doubted himself. He had trained endlessly in highly advanced simulators, practicing how to fight Godzilla, but he had never actually fought a monster before. The big moment was before him, however Godzilla was not his opponent, but another massive creature.

What was scaring him at that moment was the fact that his first fight against a monster, one he was unfamiliar with, was one he had to fight by himself. He had the Korean army, but he knew how easily these monsters could wipe out land and air units.

He picked up his maser gun as the bay door opened in front of him. It was a beautiful morning, he thought, aside from the pillars of smoke and clouds of dust coming from the city below.

The hanger door was open. The wind was wild. Masahiro took a breath and started running. With a powerful kick, he launched himself out of the ship.

He plummeted towards the city. He put his arms close to his body to fall even faster.

His gravity pack engaged and he landed hard. The ground cracked and a cloud of dust was kicked up.

The street was void of people. Masahiro was, however, bewildered to see all sorts of shellfish covering the entire street. He landed on a few and had to wipe crustacean chunks off his boots and onto a nearby curb.

The pests were everywhere. Masahiro then noticed that they were all gravitating towards him. One pinched his leg and he kicked it away.

Then he felt his objective approaching. The gigantic pitter-patter of eight legs could be felt coming from around the block.

He saw a giant claw leading the way of the sea monster Ebirah. Masahiro hopped on top of a car to avoid the monster's tiny minions. He equipped the heavy maser gun from his back.

With a burst from the maser, the agent got the monster's attention. The maser burst did not hurt Ebirah in the least. His thick exoskeleton protected him. Ebirah turned to see what had attacked him.

Masahiro fired another burst at the lobster's face.

This angered the sea monster. Ebirah charged.

Masahiro leapt high into the air, crushing the car beneath him. He landed on a building top and shot another round at his opponent.

Ebirah swung his big claw into the building.

As the roof fell out from under the agent's feet, he jumped to the building top across the street. He fired a continuous bolt as he was in midair.

Ebirah blocked the bolt with his big claw.

Masahiro continued to fire on Ebirah hoping that he would break though his claw. It wasn't happening. The maser was overheating.

When Ebirah felt the maser stop firing, he lowered his claw. Then the mammoth lobsteroid leapt up and stood on his four hind legs. He was face to face with Masahiro.

Masahiro saw a fibrous area on the underside of Ebirah's head. They looked like his gills. Whatever the area was, Masahiro saw his weak point. He fired.

Ebirah shrieked and reeled back in pain. He lost balance and fell on his side, crushing all the buildings on the other side of the street.

Masahiro saw his chance to end the fight then and there. He wanted to get close in order to deal more damage. Landing on the street, he had the finishing shot lined up. He fired.

Ebirah shrieked in agony while he flailed around.

Masahiro had not counted on Ebirah's crazed flailing. The beast's big claw came from the side and hit Masahiro. The powerful blow sent him flying as well as making him drop his maser gun. He flew a few hundred feet and through the window of an office building. His body went through several cubicle walls before finally stopping. Masahiro blacked out.

He came back to his senses a moment later to see Ebirah's thinner claw coming towards him. It plunged into the building like a knife through butter. He quickly got to his feet and tried to back up, but hit a wall. The slender, partly opened claw wedged past desks and cubicle walls. The claw then plunged through the wall behind Masahiro. He looked down to see that his right leg was in between the pincers. He had no weapon. His eyes widened at the realization of how much trouble he was was.

The claw closed.

Masahiro let loose a bloodcurdling scream. He lost balance and fell over. While he screamed in pain and agony, Ebirah waved his claw left and right, destroying the floor of the building.

The monster retracted his claw when he was struck in the head with an explosive shell. The South Korean military was beginning their assault.

Masahiro was alive, barely. The blow from Ebirah's big claw caused internal bleeding and the other claw had completely severed his leg. He was losing a lot of blood fast. He knew he was going to die. He knew he had failed.

Then he blacked out.

The Gotengo hovered over Beijing.

Glenn was ready.

"Why do you get two wankas to yourself?!" Jason exclaimed.

"Because I've been known to handle two before," replied Glenn with a devilish grin. He checked his gun. "You did say you wanted a monster head over your mantle. Maybe I'll lend one to you."

"I can get my own, thank you very much!" Jason huffed.

The bay door opened. Glenn had wondered how Masahiro had felt just before jumping out by himself. He knew at the moment. He was scared, but his years of service had toughened him up enough to not let his fear show. He looked out over the city then looked back at Jason. "I'm sorry, Jason."

"Sorry for what?" Jason asked.

"I'm sorry you're such a bitch." Glenn joked. He leaped backward out of the ship while giving Jason two prominent middle fingers.

"Back at you, you bloody yank!" Jason yelled. He was not sure if Glenn had heard him. He had hoped he did. He really didn't want Glenn to get away with thinking he had gotten in the last word. He more so didn't want that to be their last word.

Glenn descended as masahiro had; plummeting, reaching terminal velocity. The wind chill whipped at his cheeks.

He landed on a tall rooftop with a crash.

People were still running through the streets. They seemed unsure what to do or where to go. An explosion was heard to the east. He kicked his gravity pack into high gear and raced towards it.

In a few miles, Glenn saw a bus run through an intersection going much faster than any city bus should. Then he saw what it was running from. The massive canine-lion King Caesar looked like it was playfully chasing the bus. He was hopping on all fours with his tail in the air like a dog.

Glenn jumped down to the intersection to see the monster's behind. He put two fingers in his mouth and demandingly whistled two times.

King Caesar's floppy ears pointed up in attention. He turned around. His glowing red eyes attempted to pierce Glenn.

Glenn stood strong. "Here boy!" he yelled as he aimed his maser gun at the beast.

Caesar roared as his mane swayed. He charged towards Glenn.

Glenn still did not move. "You're being a bad boy!" he said as he lined up his shot.

Caesar did not stop either. It was a battle for dominance; to see who would back down.

Just before Caesar was about to pounce, Glenn fired away. He hit the beast in the face. Caesar leapt over Glenn and tumbled behind him, taking out half of a city block. Glenn walked forward and continued firing off his maser into the downed beast as it moaned and yelped.

Then Glenn heard the sound of devastation coming from behind him. He turned around the see the other beast, Queen Caesar, charging for him. She was much faster than her mate. Glenn barely had enough time to leap away in time.

The queen's paw got a little too close for comfort. He landed a few hundred feet away.

The king had recuperated. The two beasts snarled at Glenn.

"I'll catch you two later," Glenn said as he winked at the Caesars. He then jetted off. He was not going to try and wrangle up both monsters at the same time. He had a backup plan. He was off to gather all the military personnel he could find.


	10. Ch 9

Chapter 9

One Step Forward

The Gotengo II continued its flight across the eastern hemisphere.

Jason Sterlington had been deployed in New Delhi to assault the armored monster Anguirus.

Anton Gorodetsky was dropped off in Moscow. He was given a special flying version of the G-Force gravity pack since he was taking on the flying monster Rodan.

Lastly, Philippe Roaché was deployed in Paris. He had it worse that Glenn. Philippe had been tasked with exterminating the six giant mantis monsters called the Kamacuras. He also had a flying gravity pack, but it hardly made his job easier.

With no G-Force members on board, the Gotengo was assigned to take on a monster in London; the serpentine monster Manda.

The ship arrived to a smoldering London. It was eerily silent in the metropolis.

"What is the monster's location?" Captain Emmerich asked.

"Radar isn't picking up anything, sir," said the radar engineer.

"He must be hiding somewhere in the city," Emmerich concluded. "Continue hovering over the city. Move slowly."

The ship floated through the burning city with caution. Inside, Emmerich was waiting nervously for the monster to show up. Gordon was being much more vigilant. He was looking at the monitor. Then he saw it.

"The river!" Gordon announced.

With an explosion of water, Manda leaped out of the river roaring. The length it was able to throw itself out of the river was astonishing. The serpent's maw flew towards the ship and sunk its fangs into the tough metal. The weight of the beast proved too much for the mighty airship.

The Gotengo plunged into the River Thames. Huge waves washed the shores.

The crew on the control deck grabbed hold of the railings as the ship was pulled and turned. Manda was wrapping itself around the ship, twisting it and attempting to crush it.

"What's happening?!" the captain cried.

He was starting to piss Gordon off. As the ship was rocked and jolted around, he made his way around the deck to the crew member at the flight controls. "Full speed ahead and use the gyroscope to pull up!"

The crew member listened to Gordon. The ship's thrusters lit up and propelled it down the river.

"We need to get up!" Gordon yelled.

The crew member at the controls used the gyroscope to orientate himself and pulled back on the controls. With that, the ship rose out of the river while speeding ahead at around ninety miles per hour.

Manda had itself wrapped tightly around its opponent. This caused the ship to lean to the side. It was traveling in an arch.

Gordon looked at the captain who was on the floor holding onto his chair. He was not going to be much good, Gordon thought. He knew that they needed to get the monster off of then, but using any of the ship's weapons would likely do more damage to the ship than the monster. Then he saw his solution on the monitor. It was the clock tower, Big Ben.

"Try'n stay straight and aim for the clock tower!" He leaned over to the weapons operator, "Activate the drill, high speed!" He braced himself on a railing and yelled "Go right into it!"

With a spectacular mess of glass, metal, wood, and gears, the airship drove straight into the clock face. As the ship's drill plunged into the tower, it struck the grant bell making it ring for the last time. Pieces of the tower fell all over the Westminster Palace.

When the Gotengo emerged from the other side, Manda was no longer on it.

Instead, the serpent had substituted for the top half of Big Ben. It flared its hood and roared.

Gordon looked over to Captain Emmerich. He was sitting on the floor by his chair with a dazed look in his eye.

"Captain!" Gordon yelled. He got no response. "Agh! Yu' spineless little…," he did not finish. Instead he stepped towards the captain's chair and spoke louder. "Captain's outa' commission. It's up to us now." He looked at the ship's diagnostics engineer. "How's the ship?"

"Stable," the engineer replied.

"Let's try some full metal missiles. Ready! Fire!" Gordon barked.

The missiles shot out from the sides of the ship. They flew out then curved in an arch towards Manda. The serpent quickly crawled off the half tower and dodged the missiles. The rest of Big Ben was obliterated.

"Shit!" cursed Gordon. "He's below us. Fire all guns at 'im!"

Dozens of deafening bangs came from the huge guns firing all at once. The projectiles pulverized the city streets below. Some hit Manda, but did no serious damage.

Manda looked up at it assailant and roared, flaring its hood yet again. It leapt up and over the Gotengo. Upon crashing on top of the ship, it began to constricting it.

Before Gordon could react, Manda had his whole body around the Gotengo.

"We can't stay up!" yelled the flight engineer.

"Stay airborne!" Gordon ordered. "We've got 'im in one place! Fire full metal missiles! Aim 'um at the son of a bitch!"

"What?! That could destroy the ship!" The weapons engineer stated.

"We're dead of he don't stop 'im from crushing us," Gordon said. "Now fire!"

Most of the missiles launched from their silos, some exploded while still inside because they were obstructed by Manda. These explosions made Manda wale in pain. The other missiles flew up and back down, locking onto their target. When they collided with the beast, it roared in agony. The missiles had not penetrated the monster as planned, but they did blow off some of its scales leaving serious burns. Some of the missiles, however, had impacted the ship.

Manda loosened its grip and slipped off; dropping to the ground.

"Status?!" Gordon ordered.

After checking a few things, the flight engineer reported "Barely staying airborne. One more attack from the monster and we'll have had it."

Gordon looked at the monitor. Manda lay in the street, wounded. It lifted its head and stared at the Gotengo.

"It looks done for," a crewman said. "Perhaps we could finish it."

Gordon's brow sat heavy as he pondered his next move. "And if he's still got some fight left in 'im, then we're done for." He brushed his mustache as he thought some more. "Let's retreat. He can't do much more. We've done our job."

"Yes, sir," said the flight engineer.

Gordon was not expecting a "sir" from anyone. He was neither a captain nor any kind of authority head. A leader was needed and Gordon felt confident enough to give the necessary orders. He was still standing next to the captain's chair. He felt tired after coming down from a combat high, so he sat in the vacant seat. Captain Emmerich was still clinging to a rail.

It was then that an alert popped up on the main monitor; an incoming call.

"Put me through," Emmerich said. He was standing. He then looked at Gordon. "I'll take my seat back privet."

"Right…"

"And thank you for your assistance, but it won't be necessary again."

Admiral Aso appeared on the screen.

"What the status of subject Manda, Captain?"

"It appears immobile for now. There's been heavy collateral damage. The ship had also suffered heavy damage. She can fly, but not as fast as we need. And she's not combat ready."

"That's unfortunate. Your next target is in Las Vegas. It just so happens that a nearby US military base should be able to do some repairs. The British Army can handle Manda from here. Get to Las Vegas."

"We're on our way, Admiral."

With that, the Gotengo II left London.

Things weren't looking good. The armies of the world were throwing everything they at at the monsters, but everything they had wasn't good enough.

The GFAAU wasn't holding up. Together, they were capable of (or at least trained to be capable of) taking down one of these monsters. But they were separated.


	11. Ch 10

Chapter 10

More Steps Back

The entire city was nearly leveled. It was about five in the morning in Paris. Dust thickened the air, not being allowed to settle because of the Kamacuras' flying all around.

Philippe was hiding out in a ruined building. His maser was dead as well as his gravity pack. He had started out strong. He had almost killed one of the mantises, but when it cried, the other five converged on Philippe all at once. After that, he was tossed about from monster to monster in midair before managing to hide.

He hated giving into the stereotype of the surrendering Frenchman, but he was beat. He could not do anything. Bloodied and bruised, he sat spent.

He peered out a window. What he saw filled him with disappointment. It was a symbol of his failure.

The Eiffel Tower had been toppled over. It's killer, a Kamacuras, rested atop the mangled mess of metal.

Philippe didn't want to look at it anymore.

He reached into his shirt and pulled out a necklace he was wearing. He found comfort in it during times of stress. It had a small golden pendant of a fleur-de-lis that had been in his family for many generations. When he held it, it was like his whole family was there with him. He just hoped that they weren't disappointed in him.

"Philippe. Do you read me?" the admiral's voice came over his comm unit.

"Oui, Admiral."

"I'm sorry I put you in this position in the first place. Paris never stood a chance. We're moving you out of there ASAP."

"I'm sorry."

"Say sorry when the world's lost. We're still in this fight, soldier."

Anton Gorodetsky had been a formidable opponent for the flying monster Rodan. During their dog fight (which was much more one-sided than a typical dog fight between two planes), Anton managed to shoot a hole in Rodan's wing. This significantly slowed the great pteranodon down. If it went too fast, it would spin out of control.

This did not stop it from trying to eat the little pest that was shooting at it, though. As Rodan swooped in towards Anton, he dodged the beak, but was met with the wing.

His special flying gravity pack took the brunt of the blow, but it was incredibly painful. He felt something sharp pierce his back.

Anton was falling from the sky. Though the clouds and towards a ruined Moscow. He figured that that was how he would die; in the embrace of Mother Russia's capital. Saint Basil's Cathedral came into view. The morning sun shone through the dust and onto the cathedral. It was a glorious sight. Anton was thankful to see it.

He continued to plummet. Three hundred feet, two hundred feet, one hundred feet, fifty feet…

Then there was a beeping on his chest.

Anton's decent slowed down. Slower and slower he went until he landed on his back on top of a building.

He had thought the collision with Rodan had wrecked his suit, but the emergency landing generators had kicked in.

He would be given nothing that day. First he discovered that someone had taken a few swigs from his vodka (he suspected Jason), then his beloved Moscow was destroyed, and then he wouldn't even be given the sweet release of death.

He went to sit up. Then he screamed in pain and laid back down. Tears ran down the sides of his face.

It was his back. Something was seriously wrong.

He tried to turn himself over, but the pain was too great as he let out another agonizing scream.

He swore up into the sky repeatedly.

Once again, Anton tried to turn himself over. Through struggling and a lot of screaming, he was finally got in his stomach.

He pushed himself up so he could look at the city.

He was left in shock. Moscow's skyline had been slashed down. Rubble and debris was thrown everywhere. It was as if the mother of all hurricanes came roaring through.

Anton broke down crying. He had failed his mission. He had failed his country.

The shadow of Rodan encompassed the land.

Jason's Maser was almost dead. No matter how much he shot at Anguirus, the monster would not even flinch. It seemed as though every inch of the beast was armor plated. Jason could barely get a clean shot on him.

Anguirus kept rolling around curled up in a ball. While curled up, the monster was a serious juggernaut. He bounced from block to block, crushing everything in his path, nearly including Jason in a few instances.

The headstrong soldier was stumped. He had only succeeded in being a minor nuisance. He stood where a parking garage once was. The great ankylosaurus stepped into view about half a mile away. Jason looked at his maser and saw that he had enough juice for one more shot. Jason quickly took advantage of the brief moment Anguirus was still. He aimed his maser steadily using an aiming system he wore in front of his eye. He aimed for the monster's eye. Even it was protected by a plate covering the brow. It was a tough shot inside a very small window of opportunity.

"I may notta' been able to scratch yu', but you could at least bloody look at me, you bastard!"

With that curse, he took the shot. The blue electric stream jumped through the air erratically towards Anguirus. It was a bulls-eye.

Anguirus cried and wailed in pain as it jerked its head into a building next to it. Its good eye turned towards Jason. It stepped to face the agent slowly, each step with vengeful intent.

Jason became a little scared, although he would never admit that to himself. He looked down at his maser and saw that it was completely dead, then looked back up that the angry Anguirus readying to charge.

"Bloody brilliant," Jason said to himself. He dropped the heavy maser at his side.

Anguirus charged forward.

Jason ran forward towards the monster.

Anguirus picked up the pace.

Jason broke into a sprint.

Anguirus leapt up and into a ball, the spiked on his back pummeling everything in front of him.

Jason roared out loud as he charged the massive beast.

Before the two adversaries collided, a maser blast shot over Jason's head and struck Anguirus's side causing him to swerve and crash into a nearby office building. The building teetered and crumbled, then fell on top of Anguirus, stunning him.

Jason looked back to see a maser tank. The hatch opened up to reveal Philippe.

Philippe contacted Jason via the com link. "Did you need assistance?"

"No!" the Englishmen yelled. "I had the god damned situation under control!"

"Were you, uh… going to headbutt the beast, Jason?

"Well I wa'nt about to let it flatten me without a fight!"

"You're probably right. Your head is hard enough to butt with the likes of him," Philippe replied.

"Shut it, frog!" Jason exclaimed.

The trap was set. An electrified net was placed inside the empty square space in the China Central TV Headquarters building. The building had a unique design; like a square doughnut. It was perfect for what Glenn had in store.

He had instructed the People's Liberation Army (the troops that were left) to set the trap while he lured one of the beasts into it.

Glenn was leaping like a frenzied rabbit as Queen Caesar chased after him. The game of gigantic cat and mouse ran half way through Beijing. Glenn's gravity pack was overheating. He needed to wrap the race up quick. The CCTV building was in sight. He pushed for the final stretch. With a great leap, Glenn flew into the air and through the dangerous net, managing not to touch the thick threads.

Just as planned, the Queen followed. As she leapt through the square hole in the building, she was ensnared in the net. With flashes and sparks, the beast suffered electrocution as it wailed around, getting further ensnared.

Glenn took the opportunity to unload his maser on the monster, multiplying the pain tenfold.

But the Queen would not be out of power for long, for her King had arrived.

King Caesar ran up and immediately started tearing the CCTV building apart. He then reached his Queen and started slashing away at the net, fighting through the pain it caused him.

Glenn attempted to stop the King by firing his maser at him.

King Caesar wailed in pain. He then turned his head towards Glenn.

Something unexpected happened. The maser beam curved, not to Glenn's will, towards King Caesar's face. Then the beam split in two and flowed directly into the beast's eye.

This wasn't hurting the beast at all.

Glenn let go of the fire trigger, but his maser didn't stop firing. It violently vibrated as its energy was quickly sapped into Kint Caesar's eyes. Then it was dead.

King Caesar snarled as blue electricity sparked around him. His eyes, glowing with immense energy, stared down towards Glenn. And then all the electrical energy King Caesar absorbed was fired back out his eyes. Trucks and tanks exploded all around. The huge power cables the military had used were destroyed. Glenn was blown back a few hundred feet by an explosion and covered in rubble.

The King removed the net from the Queen and the two ran off, pouncing through city blocks like felines on the hunt.

Glenn pushed the rubble away. He took off his gravity pack and dropped his maser; they were dead.

Dirtied, bloodied, and spent, Glenn sat down and took a pack of cigarettes from his suit and lit one up. All he could do was watch as the monsters decimated Beijing.

He was assigned to protect Beijing from monsters and he failed. He took it personally. He had taken an oath when he was a young boy scout. The first part of the Scout Oath was "On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty." He had not done his duty when it was most needed. He felt that he had broken his scout oath.

Masahiro Ozaki slowly opened his eyes. He looked around. He was in a large medic's tent. The Korean Armed forces had been evacuating citizens and taking care of the injured who could not be moved.

All his armor and supplies had been removed. He looked down at his severed leg. It had been tied off and bandaged. The bandaging was done hastily, so some blood was still seeping out.

He had failed his mission. Ending up in a military tent with wounded civilians was beyond embarrassing.

He turned his head and saw a family on a cot embracing one another; a father, a mother, and a son. It was hard for him to look at.

Masahiro tried to think of why he was afraid. Other men were able to do it perfectly well. Maybe it was because he never knew what a father was. His own father had left him before he could even remember. Fatherhood was a completely alien concept to him. But fighting wasn't. Instead of being a father for his growing child, he went off to war; any war he could find. Then, through many victories, he found himself fighting giant monsters. Even that was less scary to him than being a father.

"Ozaki!" a voice said.

It took Masahiro a second to realize that the voice was Admiral Aso's.

"Ozaki! Subject Ebirah is closing in on your location! What is your status?!"

But then he noticed something amiss as more of his senses came back to him. People were fleeing the tent. Military personnel and volunteers were rushing to get as many people as they could out of the tent. And the ground was shaking.

Despite losing a lot of blood, Masahiro's adrenaline gave him the strength to get up. He immediately fell over having just lost a leg. He tried repeatedly to lift himself up with his phantom leg until he finally comprehended. He grabbed the standing hook his IV was hung on and used it for support.

The quacking grew stronger and stronger just before the large medical tent went flying up from above Masahiro and the rest of the civilians and military personnel. They all stood in the shadow of Ebirah.

"Admiral," Masahiro spoke into his com unit, "my armor is done for. So is my maser."

"Get out of there, Ozaki! I'm calling in all GFAAU agents!"

Ebirah shrieked as he waved the tent around in his claw.

Masahiro stepped back. Then he felt something in his back holster. It was his sidearm; a pistol.

"Is Glenn on this channel, Admiral?"

"Yeah, Ozaki," Glenn came in. "What's up? Can you move?"

"Not fast enough… Glenn, I need you to do something for me."

Ebirah slammed his big claw down into the pavement not far from Masahiro.

Masahiro flinched.

"Glenn," Masahiro continued. "Glenn… There's a boy in Okinawa. I need you to give him my tags."

"A boy? Ozaki, what are you saying? Me and the guys are coming to get you! Just hold on for a few more minutes!"

"His name is Shin'ichi Ozaki."

Masahiro pulled out his pistol and pointed it up at Ebirah and aimed down the iron sight.

"Please do this for me, Glenn," Masahiro concluded.

He then opened fire at the monster before him.

After three shots, Ebirah had noticed he was being attacked from below. He looked down and saw the familiar little human.

Masahiro took several more shots. He was aiming for the monster's left eye, but his bullets only chipped away at the thick shell around it.

Ebirah plunged down at Masahiro with the intent of crushing him with his pointed nose.

Masahiro kept firing as he counted his shots. He had one round left, at least he hoped. His target was coming towards him horrifyingly fast, but that was a good thing.

With his final shot, Masahiro succeeded in shooting Ebirah in his eye. The tiny bullet shot into the protruding weak spot with a wet crunch. Despite being tiny, it still caused Ebirah to rear back in pain.

The soldiers moved in while Ebirah was held back. They had just enough time to get the rest of the immobile civilians away from the area and onto a truck.

Once the area was clear, more Korean soldiers moved in alongside Masahiro. They opened fire.

A Korean soldier put a side arm into Masahiro's hand. The two made eye contact, both understanding it was time to give it all they had. They both aimed up and started firing.

Ebirah flailed side to side. But he wasn't about to take the assault much longer. While still shielding his injured eye with his small claw, he slammed his big claw down hard. It took out a few of the Korean soldiers. Then he dragged it across the street, taking out everyone. The soldiers shot at the claw, but it was futile.

Masahiro Ozaki watched as the wall of red shell plowed towards him. He had no protection. He had no escape. He had no chance. He knew this, but he had to do something for once in his life as a man and only a man. The fear of death was not present in his heart. He filled the last beats of his heart with his one regret: Shin'ichi.

Ebirah's claw slammed into Masahiro and then into the solid concrete side of a pillar of a parking complex.

"Ozaki!" Admiral Aso shouted. "Ozaki, respond!"

"Ozaki!! Talk to us!" Glenn yelled.

On board a carrier in the sea of Japan, the agents of the GFAAU had finally been rounded up. The original plan to split them up was devastating.

The other three G-Force agents were in the med bay.

Philippe and Jason had a few scratches, but were recovering. They sat with Anton who was in bed unable to move. His vertebrae had been severely damaged.

The door opened. It was Glenn.

Glenn couldn't bring himself to look his comrades in the eyes. He only leaned against the doorway with a painful wince.

No words were needed. They all could tell.

The agents of G-Force had a long moment of silence for their fallen brother.

The Erzherzog was watching multiple news feeds from Earth. He saw not paying full attention to the channels showing the rampaging monsters. What really had him pacing the floor and pulling at his hair were the news stories covering the death of the Pope. The Pope had planned to lead a mass prayer the next day for the people who had died in the monster attack in Dubai. He was killed when Monster X decided to show up.

Monster X floated into view outside the large window of the Erzherzog's quarters. He spoke telepathically. "You wished to see me, Erzherzog?" Monster X asked without moving his mouth.

The Erzherzog heard his voice as if he were in the room with him. He had two fingers on his forehead, thinking of what to say. "I must say, X, you did some lovely work down there."

Monster X said nothing.

"Who… who told you to attack that city? That city in particular?" the Erzherzog asked with a kind of cracked smile. "Do you know who lived in that city?"

Again, Monster X had no response, only a cold stare with his red eyes.

The Erzherzog avoided looking at his eyes as to not snuff his fuming anger.

"The leader of the humans' largest religion, that's who! You killed him! Once we had replaced him, the takeover would have gone smooth, but now we need to replace every last one of the cardinals to make sure our agent becomes the new Pope! There are two hundred cardinals! You have jeopardized the whole plan!"

"Why are you so upset?" Monster X finally spoke. His voice boomed, unlike before. "I thought you would like seeing the Keizer's plan fail. You'd rather go in and wipe out the humans in one massive attack, wouldn't you?"

"That is blasphemous!" the Erzherzog exclaimed, trying to deny it.

Monster X narrowed his eyes. "I am waiting to learn why you summoned me here."

The Erzherzog had not actually summoned Monster X to scold him over killing the pope. Something X had said telepathically (which Xilian technology could record) when he invaded the Vatican.

"God..." The Erzherzog said. "What did you mean by that?"

There was no reply.

"I don't know who you think you are, but you agreed to serve of the Xilian Empire when we saved you from the emptiness of space." The Erzherzog explained. "If you don't like that, then the void of space is where you can return!"

Monster X's eyes grew redder and brighter. "You do not know who I am or what I can do. And do not forget that it was I who led you to this planet and saved you from starving in the emptiness of space!"

"I still don't trust you," the Erzherzog put bluntly. "How am I supposed to trust you when you refuse to tell us what you are?"

"In due time, Erzherzog," said Monster X. "Now, you have an invasion to oversee. Better get to it."

"That is all," the Erzherzog said through his teeth. "Zero shall reign," he concluded the conversation.

After a second of hesitation, X replied "...Yes." He flew away towards the dark side of the moon.

The Erzherzog thought his hesitation strange, but did not have the time to think on it further.

He did not want to turn back to the monitors after being told to do so by Monster X, but his duties forced his attention. The Earth was burning. Everything (except for the dead religious leader) was going according to plan.


	12. Ch 11

Chapter 11

Deceptive Salvation

Then the world began to end.

Manda leveled London. The six Kamacuras pummeled Paris. Anguirus destroyed New Delhi. Rodan mangled Moscow. The two Caesars bulldozed Beijing. Ebirah shattered Seoul. Zilla scorched Sydney. Kumonga laid waste to Las Vegas. Gigan totaled Tokyo. And Monster X, wishing to destroy the humans' spirit rather than their infrastructure, turned Vatican City into a smoldering crater.

The monsters continued their rampage. No military power in the world even stood a chance. No conventional weapons had any effect on them. The only forces that had any luck were the Gotengo and G-Force. The Gotengo was out of commission after its fight with Manda.

The monster attacks went on for three days without stop.

Major world governments had fallen apart. Some nations were in shambles to the point that military orders stopped being received from the top. Troops operated independently. Many did not operate at all due to running completely out of ammunition.

Mankind's most powerful weapons that had any effect, the maser cannons, were failing. They were not designed to be used for such an extensive period of time. The masers overheated and their mirrors melted after the second day.

Food in the shelters around the world was almost gone. People were hungry, but the monsters prevented them from going anywhere.

Due to the desperate need for shelter in Tokyo, Admiral Aso and the leaders of G-Force had authorized that G-Force Base be converted into a shelter. It quickly filled with the scared and desperate.

The power to the base was cut, and its emergency generators had failed. In its halls, it was dark. Light was made by candles or flashlights. Dust and smoke had filled the city sky; little light could break through.

While gathering food for the people, Vincent had overheard a conversation between a soldier and another over the radio. Two emergency shelters were gone; destroyed by Gigan.

Vincent made his way down the halls of the dark base giving out rations. The flickering glow of candlelight faintly illuminated the scared people. It ached Vincent to see so many people like that. The despair and fright hung heavy on everyone's minds. Vincent hoped he would not have to live one more day like that.

The G-Force had sent what remained of their GFAAU to Sydney, Australia to aid the Australian Defense Force with Zilla. The problem the ADF was having was not being able to deal any damage, but was being able to hit the giant reptile at all. Missiles, bullets, mines, and even carpet bombings; Zilla dodged every one.

It was in the late afternoon and raining heavily. The sky was thick with grey storm clouds.

Zilla had taken on a new look. His skin was patterned to blend in with the buildings of the city exceptionally well. The beast featured a grid of semi-rough lines and shiny black in the squares of the grid. He looked like a typical building with windows.

Attempts to terminate the lizard only ended in him evading the military's attacks.

He was too fast on land and sea. And cornering the monster was next to impossible. If G-Force had him surrounded, he would burrow underground. In the three days he had been there, he had dug a large and complex system of tunnels under the city.

G-Force had devised a plan to prevent Zilla escaping downwards. They would drive him into a street intersection with electric netting on the ground. He would be surrounded on all sides while electricity would disable him from digging.

The intersection was George Street and Liverpool Street. There was a monorail overhead and nearby was the World Square with its Hordern Towers.

The members of the GFAAU had the lizard on the run. Jason and Philippe whipped him with maser blasts as they followed him using their gravity packs.

Zilla was going right to where G-Force wanted him.

They had reached the intersection when Glenn jumped in front of Zilla.

Zilla stopped and turned around only to find himself surrounded by maser wielding men. His instinct was to dig down.

"Activate the net!" Glenn shouted into his radio.

The supporting soldiers turned on the power to the net.

The net sparked as the rain hit it. Electricity surged through Zilla as he cried out. His muscles tightened and he fell over.

Glenn shouted into his radio "Bring the rain!"

With that, the bomber overhead aimed its guns.

But Zilla would not remain twitching on the ground for long. His kicking leg dragged across the ground. His toe caught a power cable and yanked it. It snapped with a whip and a crackle.

Zilla spared no time and leapt up. He began digging into the side of a tower nearby and just missed the heavy artillery shells from the bomber. The shell hit the asphalt.

Zilla stepped out of the hole he had made and began to climb Hordern Tower.

The GFAAU flew up after him.

Zilla turned around while on the side of the building and faced the approaching G-Force agents. Then he did something unexpected. With a screech, he exhaled some sort of clear gas resembling propane escaping up from an unlit grill. There was another substance that seemed to be secreted from glands in bottom of his mouth. The gas and substance combined and ignited resulting in an eerily bright green flame. The green fire spewed out of his mouth and rushed towards the GFAAU agents.

The agents dodged the flames.

Zilla reached the top. He then leapt to another tower nearby. The top crumbled, obviously not designed to support landing monsters.

Jason flew up to Zilla and aimed his maser.

"No more runnin', you bloody coward!" Jason yelled.

He fired his maser. The rain amplified its effect on the target. The electricity surging through him caused his skin to change uncontrollably. It rapidly shifted from earth tones to rubble to aquatic as well as other odd colors and textures.

Zilla whaled out loud and swatted at Jason.

Jason dodged one claw, but wasn't fast enough to avoid another. He was swatted out of the sky. Jason's gravity pack was damaged and sent him spiraling towards the street.

"Agh!" Jason shouted over the com. "I'm going down! Someone bloody catch me here!"

Closer and closer he got to the street. He was starting to get worries. It was possible that his radio had been damaged and his call for help went unheard.

Jason's mind went back to a moment in his childhood. He was on the roof helping his father string up Christmas lights. His father kept telling him to "watch your damned step!" But all it took was one small misstep for little Jason to tumble down the shingles and over the edge. He remembered that the two story fall felt like forever. "Am I about to die?!" ran through his head over and over again in the short period of time.

Ever since then, he had always been afraid of falling. When he felt like he was falling in dreams, as many people do, he would jump out of bed in a panic.

Again, "Am I about to die?" ran through his head a mile a minute. It was because of one little misstep.

He didn't want to die that day. He still had work to do and he didn't want to put more weight on his companions. But his fate was out of his hands.

His fate was, however, in Philippe's hands. Swooping up from beneath Jason, Philippe grabbed Jason by the useless gravity suit and descended as slowly as he could.

The two landed in the gutter along the street.

"Now you owe me two, no?" Philippe said.

"Let's go of me, damn frog! I had my self!"

Unfortunately, Jason's and Philippe's luck had run out.

Zilla had decided to take to the offensive. The lizard crawled down the side of the tower and faced the grounded agents.

It released another burst of green fire from its mouth.

Philippe used his gravity pack to launch himself and Jason backwards away from the flame.

Jason thought he felt his eyebrows get singed off.

Zilla crawled forward with an open maw. He was going to eat them.

Jason heard his heart beat louder than the rain around him. He closed his eyes and cringed.

But before the two could be devoured, everything appeared to stop in place. All sounds ceased.

Jason opened his eyes.

There was an extremely bright light from above and Zilla was frozen in place. Pebbles and rocks lifted from the ground.

Then Zilla started swirling around against his will. His face and tail smashed into the buildings to his sides. He spun faster until, with a blinding flash, he was gone along with the spotlight.

When Jason's eyes adjusted back to normal. Zilla was gone.

Glenn landed nearby and helped his two comrades to their feet.

They all looked very confused.

"What the hell happened! Did we get him?!" Jason exclaimed.

"Stay frosty, boys!" Glenn instructed. "The bastard probably has another trick up its sleeve."

Glenn walked around inspecting their surroundings in anticipation.

"What are we seeing, guys?" Glenn called.

To Glenn's immediate puzzlement, his men did not respond. While walking backwards, still keeping an eye on the empty streets, he nudged Philippe. When Philippe didn't respond, Glenn finally turned around.

Both Philippe and Jason were looking up. Glenn, a little terrified of what he would see, looked up as well.

The men who were confused before were now completely flabbergasted.

It looked to them like a spaceship. It had the shape of a three sided pyramid stretched on the bottom and slightly hook shaped as well. It was metallic colored with a pattern of dots and lines all over it that looked like star constellations connected with lines.

The ship silently flew off.

That was how it happened all over the globe. Wherever a monster was rampaging, about to crush a desperate civilian, one of the strange ships had arrived just in time.

There were three of them. They shot down their beams of light and wiped the earth clean of all the monsters.

When the three ships, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma, were done collecting, they swiftly converged on their mother ship.

The mother ship's name was Chi, and it had just entered the atmosphere. It dipped below the clouds, lightly pushing them away. Below was the United Nations Building in New York.

One at a time, the sub-ships met with their mother ship and orbited it. When the third sub-ship arrived, all three connected with the great spherical vessel.

The great ship, roughly 10 miles in diameter, floated motionless over the East River right next to the UN building. And for nearly an hour, it did nothing.

Military vehicles surrounded the sphere. Helicopters circled it. Tanks aimed their cannons at it. Soldiers watched it intently. News vans were parked as close as the military allowed.

The ship finally relieved the world's anticipation. A beam of light was shot from the bottom of the sphere. The beam was aimed right in front of the UN building.

Within the spot of light formed two figured. They started out blurry and then became fine. It was the Xilian Keizer and Erzherzog. The beam faded.

They both wore slim black visors. The Keizer stood patiently while the Erzherzog looked about with great curiosity.

The soldiers in front of the building backed away from the aliens with caution.

"Who's running this place?!" the Englishmen announced bluntly.

The Keizer showed hidden irritation in his voice. He had hoped that the first thing spoken between Xilian and human would have been a little more eloquent.

"May we speak with leader of your United Nations?" the Keizer asked the soldiers. "Everything will be explained, I assure you all."

Within a few minutes, The UN Secretary General, Naotaro Daigo, was on his way to the UN. The Secretary General was an older man from Japan. He had black hair with touches of grey on the sides and wore glasses. He and other UN representatives were taken to a safe place in the city when the ship arrived. Being the one to make first contact with an alien race, he was beyond nervous as he was driven to the event of the century.

The Keizer and the Erzherzog waited patiently with their hands behind their backs.

Naotaro stepped out of the vehicle in front of the UN. A hundred feet in front of him stood the two aliens. With all the confidence he could muster, he walked forward.

"Greetings; my name is Naotaro Daigo. On behalf of the United Nations and all of Earth, I welcome you to our home!" Naotaro greeted as he extended his hand. His hands were shaking.

"Thank you; I am the Keizer of the Xilian people. This is my second in command, the Erzherzog," The Keizer said with his hands still behind his back. "We are unfamiliar with your customs. Is extending your hand part of a greeting ritual?"

"Oh!" Naotaro grinned as he realized his mistake. "Yes, you take my hand with yours and we shake them once. It's a sign of trust."

"Ah, I see." the Keizer said, mimicking Naotaro's grin. "I would be glad to physically greet you, but I and my Erzherzog are not physically here. What you are seeing is a hologram. We are still in the our mothership as we have not tested your air yet."

Naotaro was a little taken back, but preceded to act welcoming. "Oh, I see. That is perfectly all right, but onto more pressing matters. You claim to know about the monsters?"

"We know much. If you will assemble your world leaders here, everything will be explained."

As fast as possible, the UN representatives were assembled in the General Assembly Hall. Everyone was waiting in anticipation to hear from the mysterious Xilians. The answers everybody needed would soon be given. All the major news networks were present for what was likely to be the most important event in human history.

When everyone was ready, the sphere lit up and projected a hologram of two top Xilians.

The Keizer began.

"Greetings people of Earth. I am the Keizer of the Xilian race. You have been through much these past few days. My people give their deepest condolences. We also wish we could have arrived sooner. To answer the question that so many of you surely have, it was us who abducted the giant monsters and ended their attack.

"Please allow me to explain why we came here. Not too long ago, around forty of this planet's years, the Xilian people lived on a beautiful planet. We had achieved a perfect harmony with nature and our own ambition to build and advance. There was no war. There were no poor regions.

"The planet was so lively, in fact, that it became irresistible to a starving monster that feasts on the life-force of planets. The mighty thing came down and ravaged our great cities. When we proved to be a formidable opponent, the thing used a wicked force we still do not quite understand. It summoned towering leviathans to do its evil work. It came, it annihilated, and it left. Our home was a wasteland unfit for even the most basic of life. The planet had no more to give. The space demon saw to that.

"So, having nothing left on our planet, we sought another. We followed the trail of the demon until we finally caught up with it. We hoped to stop the reign of the kaiju and help the planet's race defeat the tyrant. That planet is now Earth. The tyrant is named Mothra."

A picture of Mothra appeared behind the Keizer. Mothra was firing her wing lightning and kicking up moon dust. The intimidating snapshot was from when Mothra attacked Monster X, but Monster X was nowhere to been seen.

The Erzherzog seemed to be giggling, trying very much not to laugh.

"Mothra is the demon that summoned the kaiju." The Keizer continued. "Her first kaiju was the terror you know as Godzilla. Now, with our forces combined, he shall find Godzilla and destroy him!" the Keizer announced.

The room erupted with cheers and applause.

"Then, we will destroy the demon, Mothra!"

The cheers were greater.

From her home through psychic means, Mothra watched as the invaders bastardized her. The lies they threw made her sick. Everything was going against her. Her children had been stolen and now two races wanted her dead. They wanted her ace as well.

She flapped her wings and left her sacred cave. Perching atop a mountain, she scanned the sea for her tenant. She spied a disturbance in the water.

Erupting forth came Godzilla. He had caught a whale. His wounds were healed and his strength was restored.

Terrified nearby islanders frantically rowed away from the beast.

Mothra hated it when Godzilla startled her people. He had promised not to bother them while he rested, but it was unavoidable at times. Like one with a troublesome roommate, Mothra was eager to send him away.

"Gojira," she called.

Godzilla heard and headed towards Mothra.

"The invaders have revealed themselves. And with them is your son's murderer. Are you ready?"

Godzilla answered by stomping his foot down in the shallow water, sending waves and mist high up, and releasing a roar. It was a pretty affirmative.


	13. Ch 12

Chapter 12

Birth of the Mutants

Jason Sterlington was sitting on a couch in the Godzilla Memorial Lounge located in to the Godzilla Memorial Museum in Tokyo. The roof of the lounge was the side of a building which Godzilla had stepped on, leaving a huge footprint, during his 1985 attack. Ironically, the lounge and museum were spared another trampling during the recent attacks.

The museum held a collection of artifacts and documents covering Godzilla's two former attacks. The adjacent lounge served as an indoor forum for citizens.

Jason felt grateful to finally be out of his gear, but something still weighed on his mind.

Glenn, who was approaching, could see that Jason was in deep thought.

"Philippe and I planned on celebrating first contact by starting the evening early." Glenn sat in a chair next to Jason. "Why is the roughneck Jason chilling in a lounge?"

"Why is the yankee twaut out looking for guys who don't like being bothered?" Jason replied in his typical tone.

"You've been through hell, Jason. We all have. I just need to make sure you're still all there." Glenn asked with concern. "What was on your mind?"

"It's…" Jason started, still forming his thought. "It was just awful convenient, don't you thing? The world is going to hell and then bloody aliens show up to save the day just before we're spent."

"Would you rather be lizard chow right now?" Glenn joked.

"I can't be the only one smelling something funny. Their story about the giant moth sounds like rubbish too."

Glenn leaned forward. "Jason, we've all been under more stress than most people have in their entire lives. Take my advice and relax. You need it."

"Maybe," Jason replied while covering his face with his hands.

"Good," Glenn got up. "We're sneaking some drinks into the base for Anton. Try to swing by. Try to stay out of trouble too."

Glenn started to walk away.

Before Glenn got too far, Jason said "They don't blink."

Glenn stopped and turned around.

"I watched the whole speech. Neither of them batted once." Jason said without turning to Glenn.

Glenn said nothing and continued out.

What Jason had said and how he said it left him with an eerie feeling. He almost understood how Jason was feeling; like something was wrong.

Taylor Martin picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Taylor, it's Vince. How are you doing?"

"I'm alright. We're all a little on edge. There's a giant alien spaceship outside my window and no matter how many times I say that, it doesn't seem any more believable."

"I can't really wrap my head around it either. But at least the monsters are gone."

"I won't argue with that. Still unnerving, though. I always thought first contact would be more exciting. All I can think about is Independence Day."

"Ya, What would Will Smith do in this situation?

Taylor laughed. "Hey! Think I could come live with you in Japan?!"

"Ugh…" Vincent hesitated. "We'll see. Tokyo's kind of a shit show right now. Stay in New York for now."

"Well we're coming to see you soon! I torrented the Japanese Rosetta Stone, so I'm totally ready! Kon'nichiwa! Watashi wa Taylor desu!"

"Good start. Just wait till you get to kanji. And I'm calling to let you all know you will be able to see me. I'll be on UWN Nightly tonight to talk about the big guy."

"What?! No way!" Taylor telled away from the speaker "Hey mom! Vince is gonna be on TV tonight!"

Vince heard his ecstatic mother in the background. Then one of his assistants entered the room.

"Hey, Tay, hold on a sec." Vincent turned to his assistant. "What's up?"

"The tests are almost done, Doctor Martin."

Vincent nodded and moved the phone back to his face.

"Hey, Tay. I gotta go. Tell mom and dad I'll call later, or in the morning."

Glenn still had business to take care of. Thanks to his connections with the JSDF, he was able to get a lift via helicopter to the US marine base on Okinawa. There he would keep the promise he made to Masahiro.

When he landed on the island, he noticed many statues of lions. They reminded him of the Caesars. He wondered if Okinawans long ago had seen the beasts and have been building statues in their honor ever since.

Masahiro told him to find a boy in Okinawa named Shin'ichi Ozaki. He looked up the boy in a database and was able to find his address. He was ten and lived with his mother, Rei Kitamura, near the east coast of the island. They lived with the mother's family in a nice neighborhood. The house was nothing like the compact ones in Tokyo; it was a nice two story house with a pool. No doubt paid for with Masahiro's paycheck. He didn't meddle in his fellow agent's finances, but he knew he almost never had much money. He must have sent most of it here.

As he approached the house, he heard an ambulance in the distance. Normally he would not think anything of it, but he had been hearing ambulance sirens since he landed. He saw three of them speed by him on his way to the house. 'No monster had attacked Okinawa; why so many emergencies?' he thought.

He knocked on the front door. Almost immediately, a woman answered. She looked at Glenn and looked behind him as if expecting someone else. "Where are the paramedics?!" she asked frantically in Okinawan. Family members were rushing back and forth behind her. There seemed to be some sort of emergency.

"I… I'm sorry," Glenn replied in English. He knew a little Okinawan from Masahiro. "This is obviously a bad time. I can come back later."

"Who are you?" the woman asked in English.

"My name is Glenn Adams. I'm here on behalf of Masahiro Ozaki."

"He couldn't come himself?!" she asked as if offended.

"No, ma'am." Glenn said coldly. The stern look in his eyes and the harshness in his words said why. He pulled Masahiro's dog tags from his shirt pocket and presented them.

"Oh," the woman said. For a few seconds, all she could do was stare at the dog tags, not sure what to do. She could only stand there.

Glenn gently took her hand and placed the tags in her palm. "I'm sorry for your loss. He was a good friend of mine even though he didn't tell me much about his family. The last thing he told me was to deliver these to a boy named Shin'ichi Ozaki."

"I… I… I, I can't think about this right now. There's something wrong with Shin'ichi and no ambulance has come." Her maternal instincts tried desperately hold back the heartbreak.

"Is there any way I can help?" the eagle scout in Glenn asked like a reflex.

"Perhaps. Come in."

Glenn followed the woman into the house. He heard a boy crying upstairs. It was not the crying that came from a tantrum or even from sadness. The boy he heard was in agonizing pain.

When he entered the boy's room, he saw young Shin'ichi with four men around him. They were trying to hold him down as he was thrashing violently. Oddly, the four seemed to be having trouble restraining the ten year old boy. Glenn rushed to the foot of the bed to help hold little Shin'ishi's legs. Then he could tell what was going on, even though he could not imagine why. The boy seemed incredibly strong; as strong as several men.

The boy's mother rushed to her son's side as he screamed. She placed her gentle hand on his face. It did not seem to help.

Then the young Shin'ichi grabbed the headboard of his bed. With the loud splintering of wood, the boy tore the backboard off and through it at Glenn. Fortunately, Glenn was able to dodge the projectile by throwing himself to the floor just in time. The backboard went out the window and into the street. Glenn was shocked, but continued to try to hold the boy.

Again, the world was in chaos. Whatever plagued the boy was also manifesting within children all around the world. Boys suffered from agonizing muscle pains and girls faces horrific migraines. The afflicted children were all between the ages of ten and twenty one. However, there was one exception.

The Erzherzog stumbled into his quarters overlooking the UN building. His muscles aches and his head pounded. Then, like a stab to each part of his body, a pain shot through him and he fell to the floor. It seemed the suffering was closing in on him like walls. He cringed and clutched his head to stop it from exploding while he yelled.

The Erzherzog was not one to become a slave; not to anyone or anything. He was bred to be strong; bred to overcome all that hindered him. An automatic reaction took control of him. His hands moved away from his throbbing head and formed fists. Managing to ignore the pain, his mind slowly took back his body. He was in control. The pain was still there, but his will kept hold over it.

He opened his eyes and unclenched his fists. He opened his eyes in amazed realization. He looked down at his feet. To his bewilderment, he was levitating three inches off the floor. Upon realizing this, he quickly dropped and caught his footing.

The look in his eyes said he wanted answers; and he knew who could provide them.

The Keizer was observing the news from around Earth. There was something happening to the young humans. He anticipated a lot when coming to Earth, but nothing like what he was viewing.

It was then when the Erzherzog burst into the office.

"Tell me what's happening to me!" the Erzherzog demanded.

The Keizer turned in shock as if he were expecting this confrontation any second. "What do you mean?" he asked innocently.

"You!" the Erzherzog shouted before stumbling to the floor. He had lost his hold over the pain for a second. He collected his mind and continued. "You've been hiding something from me ever since we arrived." He thought deeper. "No. No! All my life! And today, right now, you're going to tell me, o wise Keizer!"

"Do you forget your number?! I will not stand for such insolence!"

"I…" he began, but stopped before yelling loudly due to a piercing pain in his head. "I was viewing the human visual feeds. Much of Earth's young are undergoing some sort of… simultaneous episode. Then, not even one minute later, I'm experiencing the same thing!"

"You're writhing in pain. Lie down and let the medics take care of you." The Keizer slowly approached with comforting hands.

"I know. I know! There's always been something wrong with me. Different, not like any other Xilian. And I know that you know!" the Erzherzog formed fists again and closed his eyes. He tried to withhold the pain like he did before. But unlike before, everything went black.

The last thing he remembered was the feel of the Keizer's arms catch him.

When Gordon and Yuki arrived back at G-Force Base in Tokyo, things seemed worse there than in Dubai. A chill ran up Yuki's back when she heard the cries of children fill the halls of the base. The whole base seemed dingy and depressing. The air felt thick with humidity. The air conditioning system had ceased. The emergency lights dimly light the halls. There batteries were beginning to die.

The screaming put Yuki into a daze. She almost thought she had fell asleep on the jet was experiencing a nightmare. Then Vincent approached her and got her attention.

"Gordon, nice to see you alive," Vincent greeted Gordon quickly. "Yuki, thank god you're here. Something is happening with the kids here. It all started at once. Boys are having severe pain throughout their body and girls have severe migraines. None of the nurses or medics has a clue about what's going on!"

"I've never heard of anything like this," Yuki replied. The chaotic situation was beginning to overwhelm her.

Just then, a woman came running down the hall calling "Doctor Martin! Doctor Martin!" She looked out of breath. "There is a girl, maybe fifteen or sixteen, under the same attack as the other girls!"

"Taylor, my sister, is going around with blankets. That's all we can do right now. She's going to be fine." Vincent tried consoling the woman.

"But you don't understand. She's pregnant! She is in labor right now!"

"Christ!" Vincent said aloud. He was not even sure if the afflicted individuals were going to survive. The chances of a baby surviving such stress seemed much slimmer.

"Take me!" Yuki promptly requested. With a goal to concentrate on, she was able to hold herself together.

The woman led Yuki, Vincent, and Gordon to the laboring girl. She had already been transported to the base's infirmary. When Yuki and the others arrived, there was one frantic nurse. The other nurses and medics were busy tending to the seriously injured or dying.

"Thank heaven you're here!" the solitary nurse said. "This girl is in labor and I can't do anything while she's flailing around like a lunatic!"

The girl's cries of pain made it difficult for everyone to think.

"Vincent, Gordon, hold her." Yuki instructed the men. "Is the father here?" she asked the nurse.

"He's in the same state as the rest of the boys." the nurse answered.

"What's her name?"

"Anne, I think."

Yuki continued to ask other questions about the girl. Her contractions had become more frequent. Vincent and Gordon did their part by sacrificing their hands to the girl's grip as she wailed in pain. She couldn't even form words, the pain was so great.

Two hours had passed. Yuki could tell the birth was growing closer. Since the girl was so young, she had assumed this was her first child, which concerned her. Normally, labor for a first time mother lasts much longer, around eight or ten hours. Then again, something very unnatural was happening to the girl. Yuki tried telling the girl to begin pushing. While she could only reply in screams, the message got through. It was not long before the child began to crown.

With one final push, the cries of the newborn filled the halls. Yuki held the tiny baby girl in her hands.

Vincent and Gordon were in as much relief as the new mother as they tended to their crushed hands.

Strangely, as the child cried out, the cries of the many young girls ceased all at once. They had all passed out, including the new mother.

The halls of G-Force base rang silent except for the cries of the newborn baby. Evacuees and nurses all gazed down the dimly lit corridor leading to the baby.

He slowly managed to open his eyes. The lights overhead were bright. His head was still ringing from the pain, but the pain was gone. His long duster was on the counter across the room.

He almost always wore his black duster. The taylors had offered to shorten the sleeves, but he liked them ever so slightly longer than normal. He always felt cold without it and thought every others xilain strange when they felt perfectly comfortable in the mothership. 'Why does everyone like it cold?' the Erzherzog thought. 'Can't they tolerate a bit of warmth for their Erzherzog?'

Upon seeing the Erzherzog awaken, the xilian nurse left to inform the Keizer. The Keizer made it clear that he wanted to be the first to know when he woke up.

While alone, the Erzherzog tried to remember what happened. The short time he was in agony blurred together in his mind. He remembered feeling tremendous pain throughout his body and head. Then he passed out shortly after going to see the Keizer. What puzzled him was why he thought the Keizer could answer his questions. He could not recall his reasoning.

He could recall being caught by the Keizer. A sense of what humans called Déjà vu came to him when he thought of being in the Keizer's arms. He would have certainly remembered making physical contact with the Keizer before. He never did accept on the rarest of occasions. Touching the Keizer was most socially unacceptable. "But why, then did it feel familiar?' the Erzherzog thought.

It was then that the Keizer himself entered the room.

"How are you?" The Keizer asked.

"What happened to me?" the Erzherzog replied. "All I remember is fighting off this horrible pain and then passing out at your feet. You caught me."

"You appear to have suffered the effects of some sort of attack. We don't know what it was or who it was from. All that matters now is that you and our people are safe."

The Erzherzog only looked bewildered. "That's all that matters. You don't seem very worried, though."

The keizer smiles. "We are at the climax of our long journey. There's no stopping us now. Have faith in me, Erzherzog. Now get some rest."

With that, the Keizer left. And the Erzherzog sat in the bed more confused than ever. One thing he was less confused about, however, was his faith in the Keizer.

Anne Saegusa opened her eyes. She was immediately alarmed. The last thing she remembered was sleeping on a cot in the halls of the base when she felt her baby. She could tell it was coming. Then everything got fuzzy and her head felt like it was going to explode. Then she woke up. She leapt up and realized she was in a different bed. To her horror, she found that her stomach was flat. She became frantic.

"Anne! Anne!" Yuki walked in to comfort the girl.

"Where is my baby!?" Anne demanded to know.

"The little angel is just fine." Yuki informed. "Oh Kazama," she called to the young man on a couch holding the child in a blanket, "the new mother would like to see her baby."

Kazama Katsunori, the new sixteen year old father, got up and approached Anne.

Anne extended her anxious arms. Kazama gently handed over the girl.

The delicate babe was peacefully asleep. As Anne adored her, she very carefully brushed aside some the baby's thin black hair. Anne then looked back up at Kazama. He placed a tender kiss on Anne's temple and then one on the child's head.

"Figures, we could only agree on boys' names," Kazama lightly joked.

"What girls' names did you like?" Anne asked softly.

Kazama looked down at Anne and saw how happy she was. He only wanted to make her happier. He was not fond at first of the name he was about to propose, but he knew Anne would like it. "What about naming her after your grandmother, Miki?"

Anne's face lit up with joy. She had grown very close to her grandmother and was heartbroken when she passed away the year before. "Really?! You like it?"

"Yeah, it's grown on me the more I think of it." Kazama smiled back.

" And do you still want her to have my surname? Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm sure, Anne. Miki Saegusa is perfect."

Yuki quietly left the new family alone and tended to the other patients. After the hours upon hours of exhausting work, seeing those three together filled Yuki with much needed hope. That child made the whole ordeal seem worth it.

The Erzherzog looked over the great human city. He stood shirtless. The Earth's sun was brighter than any of the lights on the mothership. In the bright light, his skin looked almost transparent. Purple veins could be seen snaking through his body.

He was wondering what an Xilian city would look like here. He had never seen an Xilian city. Most Xilians had not. Only the elderly were alive to see them. The closest thing to an Xilian city he knew was the mothership. These dirty looking buildings the humans had constructed would not do for Xilans. The Erzherzog was thinking of ways to get them out of the way.

A female stepped into the doorway of his chamber. "My Erzherzog…"

He did not really want want to reply. He wanted to ignore her and hope she got the message and left.

"My Erzherzog…" she repeated a bit louder.

"What is it, female?!" The Erzherzog asked with irritation.

"The Keizer wanted you to know of the birth taking place at this moment."

The thought took a second to get through. The ban the Keizer had put on conception had not been lifted. They did not have the resources to care for any more of their people. "Birth?! A child?! Why was it not aborted after conception? Who allowed it to develop?"

"Forgive me, my Erzherzog. I do not know. I can take you to the Keizer now if you would like."

The Erzherzog grabbed his large black coat and put it on (without putting his shirt back on) while he walked with the female.

The female let the Erzherzog to the med-bay. Their, they went to the room with the screams emanating from it. Inside was an Xilian woman about to birth the first Earth born Xilian.

The Xilian process of childbirth was very similar to how it was for humans. The xilian woman was on a bed with her legs held up.

The Keizer, with a smile on his face, approached the Erzherzog.

"I'm glad you were able to come," the Keizer said to the Erzherzog.

"Why are you allowing this to happen? Are you lifting the ban?"

"I am. When the news of the conception reached me, I knew that by the time we had a home, so would the child. It was kept a secret to avoid a population boom."

The doctor exclaimed "My Keizer, it's coming!"

"Perfect timing, my Erzherzog!" the Keizer patted the Erzherzog's shoulders. "Come witness the first Earth born Xilian."

With a final scream and final push, the woman gave birth to the child and the doctor delivered it. "A male!" he announced. He handed the boy to the nurse who proceeded to wash him off. The female nurse then passed the boy off to the Keizer who inspected him. Newborn Xilians had thinner skin than adults. Their skin was more transparent. Purple veins along with a tiny beating heart could faintly be seen. One could see his organs moving inside while under light. The skin would thicken and be less transparent in about an Earth year.

The Keizer, very happy, handed the boy to the Erzherzog. It was his first time holding a baby. Upon feeling it in his arms, a strange, warm feeling stirred up within him. Without ever knowing the new Xilain or even knowing of its conception, he treasured it. "Who is he?" the Erzherzog asked.

The Keizer answered. "We've decided to name him Shin Zero One. The beginning of a new generation of Xilian."

The Erzherzog continued looking at the child. "Such a precious child…"

"Indeed," the Keizer agreed. "We've parted the child from his mother for too long. Perhaps we should give them some time together."

The Erzherzog give the child to his mother and left the room with the Keizer. But he turned around one last time before leaving. The baby Xilian gripped his mother's finger.

The Shobijin knelt before the almighty Mothra. They put their hands together and prayed to the mighty thing.

"How are the islanders?" Mothra asked.

"The affected ones are still asleep. The drink worked well to ease them. The transformation seems to be nearing its end," the girls said in unison.

"Good. I didn't want this to befall the young people. But the Earth did this on its own. It was forced to without its kaiju," the moth explained.

"We have faith in you, Mosura. We trust in the Earth."

"With the army before us, I fear the Earth, myself, and the mutants may not be enough. That is why we must have faith in the brute I've brought here."


	14. Ch 13

Chapter 13

Reunions

Yuki was taking a very long and very well deserved nap at the G-Force base. Gordon took the opportunity to get out and find a bar. The fact that the city was in ruins and the economy was beyond decimated oddly only meant more business for bars.

As Gordon walked down the dusty sidewalks of Tokyo. Not many people were out for obvious reasons.

He saw a man turn into an alley and went to see what was down it. Sure enough, halfway down the alley was a little bar hidden away. Such bars were common in Japan.

Ducking under a large fallen piece of wood, he walked into the tiny bar. The front was compacted. The bar seated four people and did not have much more room. There was a section further back with two tables and seats. Gordon knew those were customarily for regulars. And then there was the back section behind sliding doors. That section was for senior customers who had been regular customers for many years. Gordon had always wanted to see what it was like back there ever since he learned of the tiers in these bars.

He sat and ordered a beer. The world was to his back. He could finally take his mind off of things. The gravity of all he had been through had pushed him to his limits. He honestly did not care about the aliens at the United Nations. He was still winding down from the monster apocalypse. Everything he saw on the television seemed like a bad sci-fi series he had little interest in. He was happy knowing Yuki was now safe and resting. He was also happy when the bartender served him his cold beer. He sipped his drink and reflected on each passing moment.

And then Gordon heard the chuckle of an old man behind him. It took him a second, but then he realized who it was and turned around. He saw the grinning face of Takaki Aso. It was odd seeing him out of a captain's uniform. He wore a brown windbreaker and slacks. He looked like a welcoming grandpa. "Mister Gordon, you select bars very wisely."

Gordon also grinned and casually bowed. "Admiral Aso! You're a welcomed face."

"Hey! Don't call me Admiral around here. People may thing I was the jackass that left the lady in such a sad condition," he semi jested. "If I had been at her head, I would have had her docked back at the base without a scratch."

"Yeah, that Emmerich guy didn't have a clue o' what he was doin'" Gordon shook his head.

"You're my only friend in Tokyo, Gordon. May I call you a friend?"

Wha! Sure thing, sir!"

"Come sit with me in the back, then."

Gordon was overjoyed to hear Aso refer to him as a friend, but he did his best to keep his cool. "Sounds good, sir."

Aso led Gordon to the back of the bar. He ordered sake as well as another beer for Gordon. They sat on the floor. Gordon much prefered the bar to the Japanese style dining rooms, but he sat down cross legged anyway. The two received their drinks.

"I feel that a toast to surviving the apocalypse is needed," Aso stated.

"You got that right!" The two toasted.

The two filled each other in on what they had been doing since last seeing each other. Aso had been helping at a shelter in Tokyo. Gordon had told Aso that he was helping at the Gotengo base.

Then Aso seemed to reflect on something and became silent.

"When Godzilla escaped Site G, were you able to see him with your own eyes?" Aso asked while staring into his sake.

"Hm," Gordon thought. "I never actually saw Godzilla face to face. He was gone by the time we were rescued. I've only seen him and other monsters on monitors and televisions."

Aso continued staring into his sake. Gordon grew a little concerned. Aso did not seem to be in the bar any longer; he was somewhere else.

"I've seen him… I was here… in 1956.

We were in the middle of an enormous crowd, my parents and I, making our way to the nearest bomb shelter. Godzilla had come ashore for the second time. The sea of people was so thick. We could hardly move. My parents held each of my hands, my mother on my left, and my father on my right.

We could hear his hellish roars getting louder. That was when people started to panic. The crowd became thicker. People were pushing against one another. Then I was separated from my parents. I would never see them again.

Eventually, I got away from the crowd. I called for my mother and father until my throat was sore. I was completely lost. All I could do was sit down against a wall and weep.

I saw a tanks and trucks roll by. They were all heading towards a great fire in the distance.

I could feel his footsteps. They were getting louder with each step. And the air was warm from the fire; the warmest night I'd ever experienced.

The ground began to shake violently with each of his steps. I was too scared to move, too scared to do anything. I just sat there hoping he would go away.

The smell of smoke grew stronger. Ash and dust was flying through the air.

I finally decided to run when the building behind me began to crumble. I ran around a corner. Then the magnitude of the quaking earth made me trip and fall into a puddle. I got up and looked at my wet cloths. Then I looked at the puddle. I'll never forget what I saw as the water stilled. It was to be burned into my mind forever. It was him. I looked up. He was maybe 25 meters from me. The he roared. Windows shattered all around me. I fell to the ground and screamed for my mother.

And then… and then, when I looked back up, The monster, the devil, lowered its head. It looked right at me. I looked directly into his eyes. I saw fire. I saw hate. And then I fainted.

I woke up in a relief shelter the next morning."

When Aso finished his story, Gordon remained silent.

After a moment of silence, Aso spoke again. "Is it strange that I see him in puddles every now and then?" Aso grinned.

The two spent the next few hours drinking. The mood eventually elevated. They both left the bar around nine o'clock at night. They said goodbye as two friends would have with the expectation of seeing one another in the near future.

She read her mission dossier. It told her her age, stats, childhood, likes and dislikes, everything she would need to know about the persona she was about to take on.

She was like a female praying mantis ready to snatch a mate. And sure enough, the desired mate came strolling along. She quickly put her dossier folder into her purse. She quickly ran through her identity again: Akiko Smith, Japanese, business woman walking back to the shelter she was staying at after her apartment was destroyed. She would confront her target and ask him to walk with her to the shelter.

But then the mission went off track.

"Hello, miss!" a tall man said in Japanese. He seemingly came out of nowhere and startled Akiko. He smiled down at her with an unkempt and toothy grin. "It's getting late. I should walk you home or wherever you're staying."

"No, thank you," Akiko replied.

"Oh, but miss, there's hardly any law out in the streets. A lot of suspicious types running around. Let me walk with you part way. I'm a nice guy once you get to…"

"Go away immediately!" Akiko told the man.

The tall man huffed. "I was going to be nice, but the you had to be rude." Then he grabbed Akiko's arm. "Come here, I got something for you!" He was pulling her into an alleyway.

The man Akiko had been following and planned to confront, Glenn Adams, had heard the commotion and turned around. When Akiko let out a yelp, Glenn burst into a sprint.

Glenn came to the alley to find the tall unkempt man forcing Akiko against the wall while pulling up her skirt. "Hey!" Glenn exclaimed, "What the hell's going on here?!"

The tall man turned slowly towards Glenn. Akiko tried to escape while he was distracted, but got her head shoved against the brick wall. "My girlfriend and I want to be alone! Go away, asshole!"

The tall man turned his head back to Akiko, but before he knew what had happened, he was flying towards the street outside the alley. His face smashed into the asphalt. He howled in pain as he turned over, but was met with a fist speeding towards his face. The blow knocked the back of his head into the asphalt. His nose was bleeding profusely. His pain was not over as Glenn grabbed him by the hair.

"Now!" Glenn started, "You have been very ungentlemanly towards this lady!" Glenn slammed his head into the street again. "I believe you owe her an apology."

"I'm sorry, man, I'm sorry! Just stop!"

"No! Don't be sorry to me, be sorry to her!"

"I'm sorry, miss. I'm so sorry. Can you please tell him to stop?!"

Akiko fixed her outfit and looked at the tiny man. She did not say anything though and only glanced at Glenn.

Glenn looked back at Akiko then turned back to the man. As he pleaded for mercy, Glenn grabbed the man's hand and began breaking fingers. He stopped after four fingers.

"Get out of here! I'm sick of lookin' at you."

The man scurried away into the shadows holding his gnarled hand.

Glenn approached Akiko. "Are you okay, miss?"

"Yes, thank you so much."

"Should I walk you home? I think that would be best."

"Yes, please, if it's not any trouble."

"Oh no, miss, not a bit of trouble."

"Thank you again. I'm staying at the Gotengo base for now. My apartment is gone."

"Oh? I'm staying there for now as well. I've been helping anywhere I can. I'm Glenn, by the way, Glenn Adams." He extended his hand.

Akiko reached out and took Glenns firm hand with her delicate and fair hand. But as she was about to tell him her name, something mentally struck her. It was the name Smith. It was a very common name. That was why it was chosen for her. But it would not be common for a Japanese woman. If he asked her about her western name, she would have to invest a whole new backstory with likely plot holes. "I'm Akiko," she quickly glanced up at a sign she saw, a movie poster, and grabbed the first surname she saw, "Akiko Namikawa."

"Pleased to meet you, miss Namikawa. Let's be off."

The two shared a smile before they walked off together.

The Erzherzog looked at himself in a mirror. He was shirtless. His skin was almost transparent with a few veins being visible. He looked both amazed and concerned at himself. He was very muscular and toned, but it wasn't like that until recently. Before, his body was very slim. He had no idea where the muscle mass had come from.

"My Erzherzog…" a female Xilian servant chimed in.

The Erzherzog looked surprised. "What is it?!" he asked with irritation.

"The… the…" she hesitated as her eyes noticed the rippling pectorals and abs on the half naked Erzherzog. Just as she noticed her mouth slightly agape, she looked away.

"Well?"

She snapped back to her senses. "The Keizer wanted you to know of a birth taking place at this moment."

The thought took a second to get through. The ban the Keizer had put on conception had not been lifted. They did not have the resources to care for any more of their people. "Birth?! A child?! The Keizer lifted the ban?"

The Erzherzog grabbed his large black coat and put it on (without putting his shirt back on) while he walked with the female. He was almost grateful to be on duty. Acting normally helped him keep his mind off of whatever was happening to him.

The female let the Erzherzog to the med-bay. Their, they went to the room with the screams emanating from it. Inside was an xilian woman about to birth the first Earth born xilian.

The xilian process of childbirth was very similar to how it was for humans. The xilian woman was on a bed with her legs held up.

The Keizer, with a smile on his face, approached the Erzherzog. "I'm glad you were able to come."

"Why are you allowing this to happen? Are you lifting the ban?"

"I am. When the news of the conception reached me, I knew that by the time we had a home, so would the child. It was kept a secret to avoid a population boom."

The doctor exclaimed "My Keizer, it's coming!"

"Perfect timing, my Erzherzog!" the Keizer patted the Erzherzog's shoulders. "Come witness the first Earth born xilian."

WIth a final scream and final push, the woman gave birth to the child and the doctor delivered it. "A male!" he announced. He handed the boy to the nurse who proceeded to wash him off. The female nurse then passed the boy off to the Keizer who inspected him. Newborn xilians had thinner skin than adults. Their skin was transparent enough to see veins, muscles, and and some bone beneath. One could see his organs moving inside while under light. The skin would thicken and be less transparent in about an Earth year.

The Keizer, very happy, handed the boy to the Erzherzog. It was his first time holding a baby. Upon feeling it in his arms, a strange, warm feeling stirred up within him. Without ever knowing the new xilain or even knowing of its conception, he treasured it. "Who is he?" he asked.

The Keizer answered. "I've decided to do something unorthodox for this child. Being the first in a new generation of Xilians, he will be 001."

The Erzherzog continued looking at the child. "A very special number…"

"Indeed," the Keizer agreed. "We've parted the child from his mother for too long. Perhaps we should give them some time together."

The Erzherzog gave the child to his mother and left the room with the Keizer.

Vincent rode in the back of a humvee. He had just landed in New York via an authorized UN transport plane.

After he and his team had made substantial strides in their studies, he was allowed to travel to see his family.

The humvee turned a corner. As Vincent looked out his window, he didn't completely register what he was seeing. He had a similar feeling when his family went to see the Grand Canyon. The vista of the canyon was so vast and massive that it almost didn't look real, like a giant painting. But what he was looking at over Manhattan was very real: the Xilain Mothership.

"You're not gonna get used to seeing that any time soon," the soldier driving the humvee said.

"That so?" Vincent replied.

"Crazy shit, man. Thought Godzilla was the worst of it."

"I'm just glad the worst is over."

"You got that right, doc."

There were a few moments of silence. Vincent wasn't sure how to continue small talk with the soldier.

"Have you seen any of them?" Vincent asked.

"The monsters?"

"Yeah "

"Yeah. My company was in Vegas. Of course we get the giant spider. Hate spiders."

"Of course that had to attack major population centers."

"You think it really was this Mothra thing like the Xilians said?"

"I wouldn't be surprised. What bothers me is that we haven't seen this Mothra yet. It's all very strange."

"But have you see any of the monsters, doc?"

"... Oh yeah. You know, my grandfather saw Godzilla face to face."

"You shittin' me?!"

"In '56 when he first attacked. He told me all about it."

"Those are some scary bedtime stories."

They were scary stories. Vincent recalled his father getting upset at his grandfather for telling him stories of Godzilla. Vincent thought his grandfather was like any old man and retold old stories to relive his glory days. In hindsight, maybe he was trying to warn young Vincent.

"Hey. You wouldn't mind stopping somewhere on the way, would you?"

"No problem, doc. Where we goin'?"

Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York had a wide view of the Manhattan skyline.

Vincent stood at the grave of Steve and Betty Martin.

"Hey, grandma. Hey, grandpa…" Vincent said as if he were coming over to visit on the weekend like he used to. "Sorry I haven't been over in a while. Been working a lot."

He looked over at Manhattan and the great looming sphere.

"What do you make of all this, grandpa?

Vincent recalled something from a long time ago. Going over to his grandparents' house was always enjoyable for the most part. But Vincent remembered being very concerned for his grandpa one day. He acted very worried and anxious. It was like he knew an impending doom was approaching.

And it was not soon after that the man in the uniform came. Young Vincent was playing with his toys, making giant monsters fight one another. His toy rammed into a shiny black shoe. He looked up to see a man in a military uniform.

"Grandpa! Grandpa!" Young Vincent yelled.

His grandfather came out. He was dressed and looked ready to leave.

"Mister Martin? You're needed in Washington," the man said.

"Yes. I've been expecting you." Vincent's grandfather replied.

Vincent, standing over his grandfather's grave, pondered the event.

"Did you know he was coming?" Vincent said to himself. "How did you know?"

Vincent looked back over at Manhattan. This time, when he glanced over, he was struck with deja vu. He was not sure when or where he was it, but he remembered three menacing pairs of glowing red eyes.

He shook his head and ignored the haunting vision.

He wanted to enjoy his visit and decided to leave. He had missed his family and did not want to keep them waiting any longer.

Seventeen year old Taylor Martin was in room tuning her guitar. She put her long brown hair up in a ponytail so it would not get in the way. Vincent Martin's little sister was a very talented musician having been a star student in her music classes throughout high school. She was skilled in using the violin, cello, and bass, but was particularly fond of the acoustic guitar. She would spend much of her free time strumming her Gibson. It was her sweet-sixteen gift and cost quite a bit. The Martins were a very well off family living in an upscale apartment in Manhattan.

Along with having an affinity for music making, Taylor was what some people would call "retro." Even though her family could give her the latest and greatest, she was fascinated with latest and greatest of the '70's and '80's. Next to her tube television set was an old record player, a VCR, and a LaserDisc player. One whole wall of her room was dedicated to her collection of records, VHS tapes, Betamax tapes, LaserDiscs, and DVDs. She treasured her vinyl record collection above all.

Taylor was never one to go with the flow like the other girls. None of the passing trends ever clung on to her. Nor did boys. She had never had a boyfriend nor put in much effort to attract one. Some of the other kids considered her "tomboyish."

Taylor strummed a few cords before she heard a knock at the front door. She perked up immediately and jumped off her bed.

In the living room, she saw her brother. She ran up and gave him a strong embrace.

"What have you been up to, Tay?" Vincent asked.

"Just school. Learned a few songs too." Taylor replied.

Vincent's mother came in. "Taylor, get drinks. Dinner's almost ready. Vinny can tell us all about Japan at the table."

The family sat down for dinner. Vincent told his family all about Japan and what it was like living at the south pole. No one brought up Godzilla. The subject a bit of a taboo within the family.

Vincent enjoyed the afternoon. He would come to remember it fondly. It would be the last dinner he would have with his parents.

Taylor's cell phone buzzed.

"Taylor! Why is your phone at the table?" her father asked.

It was a text message from one of her girlfriends. She flipped her phone open and read "R U SEEING THIS?!?!"

Taylor replied by texting "Uh, what?"

A few seconds later, the replying text read "LOOK OUT YER DANM WINDOW AT BROOKLYN!"

Taylor got up from the table and pulled the curtains aside to see out the window. Past the pleasant skyline view of Manhattan was Brooklyn. Brooklyn was burning.


	15. Ch 14

Chapter 14

Cold Vengeance

It was only a few minutes ago that a dark shadow appeared in the Lower Bay of New York. The tip of a dorsal spine poked up from the surface of the water. It split the waves in half leaving a large wake. A full array of brilliant dorsal spines broke the surface before Godzilla raised his head up too. He heard the commotion of millions of humans. He could hear them from several miles away. They were so noisy.

Before, when Godzilla come onto a city, his rampage of destruction was triggered by humans attacking him. He would go to investigate the noises and lights on the land. He was merely curious. But when he got close, the city would attack him. This made him furious. So he attacked that which attacked him. It was war. He only stopped destroying when he was no longer being attacked. Then he would return to the sea.

This time, though, Godzilla had a mission. He could see his objective floating in the sky. If what Mothra said was true, these invaders were responsible for his rage. He was going to unleash all his rage back at them even if he had to burn the the whole city down to get to do it.

The citizens New York were enjoying their day at Coney Island. Couples were riding the ferris wheel, kids were playing the games, and families were sitting down with corndogs and cotton candy. It wasn't long until someone noticed the looming three-hundred foot tall figure a few miles away from the docks. The people all gathered to the peer to see what the excitement was about. The people's attitudes started as confusion and speculation. It soon turned into full on panic as the people recognized the thing heading towards them. They ran.

Godzilla reached the shore. His feet left deep imprints in the sand. His ankles ripped through the boardwalk, breaking and splintering the wood. The wooden roller coaster, The Cyclone, fell apart under his feet like a weak toothpick model. The coaster's car was on its final hill. When it reached the top, the railing was torn away. The car crashed to the ground. No one was in the car, fortunately. When Godzilla reached the ferris wheel, he twisted and bent it like fence wire.

Coney Island was nothing for Godzilla. In a few moments he would reach Brooklyn.

The Gotengo II, mostly repaired, was speeding across the Pacific Ocean, about to reach the west coast of the United States. Admiral Aso was overseeing the preparation of the GFAAU.

"I was hoping that this day would never come, men," Aso began addressing the soldiers, "but it's here. Godzilla is demolishing Brooklyn, New York, and heading straight towards the Xilian mothership over Manhattan Island. The US armed forces are hindering him, but I know that won't keep him back for long. I've seen what that damned lizard can do. He is fully capable of leveling that whole city if we don't take him down.

"The situation will soon be in your hands, men," Aso continued. "This is what you've all been living for. My ship will be there offering our full support. Check your equipment. Our ETA is thirty minutes. Good luck."

The Admiral left the room. The men relaxed and continued to check their gear. Jason Sterlington spoke up. "I call dibs of the bloke's head. It's going in my den."

"I doubt your den is that is that large," Philippe commented. "I, however, am taking his greatest dorsal spike. It will be the centerpiece of my front yard."

Glenn Adams addressed them. "Do I need to remind you ladies that Godzilla is highly radioactive? I'll have no souvenirs being taken."

"Just us three, then?" Philippe asked.

"It's gonna have to do." Glenn stated. "We were meant to tackle Godzilla and that's it. Frankly, I can't believe we've survived this many monsters. But there's still a Godzilla. So there's still a mission."

"This damn well better be it," Jason said as he smoked his cigarette. "I'm due my retirement ten times over."

Admiral Aso would arrive later that he would have liked. Godzilla was nearly done with Brooklyn. A trail of destruction was formed straight through the city. Raging fires spread quickly. The local and neighboring cities' firefighters couldn't keep the flames back. Godzilla looked back at his doing. He trumpeted his call so all would hear.

A great fiery force hit Godzilla right in the back of the head. Having been caused extreme irritation, his dorsal spines illuminated brightly. He swung his head around to see a few battleships just before he blew a few of them away, sending them to the bottom of the bay. One was lucky enough to not get hit by his atomic blast. Godzilla fixated on it. He stepped into the water, crushing a dock. Godzilla seemed to walk equally fast in water up to his knees as he did on land. A few sailors on the battleship actually lost their nerve and jumped ship, hoping to get out of the charging monster's path. All cannons and guns were firing desperately at Godzilla, slowing him down minutely.

Godzilla then felt a stinging on his back and neck. These attacks from his behind infuriated Godzilla incredibly. A jet whizzed past his ear, and then several more followed. Godzilla's tail managed to swing quick enough to swat one down. A cloud of fire rained metal down into the water below. His spines illuminated again. He released his atack and the blast managed to hit three more fighter jets.

Godzilla continued towards the battleship. He took everything the ship had to offer without flinching. One powerful swipe took out the communications and control tower, killing the captain, and affectively decapitating the war machine.

Missiles struck Godzilla's side. Godzilla saw the final jet from the flock fly past him and swoop around. He bent down and dug his claws into the battleship. The ship rose up out of the water. Godzilla held up the battleship that was nearly twice his length into the air. The jet sped towards him. Before the pilot could comprehend the sight of a giant monster holding a battleship up like an oversized baseball bat, Godzilla swung, annihilating the jet. The battleship was flung, half crashing on the shore of Manhattan.

Godzilla looked before him and saw a forest of tall buildings, many taller than him. He made his way through one of the streets. His sides brushed the buildings. With a thrash of his arms and tail, he had more room. The dorsal spines on his back grew bright and hot. Godzilla inhaled, and then released his power. He burnt an arch into the city as he turned his head. Chunks of the buildings were blown away and replaced with flames. He then continued his onslaught.

Vincent Martin, his sister Taylor, and their parents, Robert Martin and Tanya Martin, were making their way through the streets with the rest of the city's citizens trying to evacuate. They were in midtown attempting to get out using the Lincoln Tunnel.

"Taylor! Don't let go of my hand. Stay with us!" Taylor's mother yelled over the crowd. Vincent led his family. He help Taylor's hand, Taylor held Tanya who held Robert.

A deafening boom came from behind them. An exploding wall of fire could be seen reaching towards the sky. The rushing crowd briefly stopped to gaze in horror, and then hastened their pace.

Robert Martin tripped over a curb and lost his wife's hand. Tanya's frantic mind focused on her husband and tried to go back. When Taylor felt her mother holding her back, she instinctively tore her hand away. Tanya tried to look over the crowd for Robert. Vincent was unaware of this and continued forward with Taylor.

Tanya forced her way through the endless flow of people to find her husband.

"Where's Taylor? Where's Taylor, Tanya?!" Robert asked.

"I…I…" was all she could manage to get out. She was in shock. Robert was more collected and realized this and was not upset at her.

"She's just up ahead, dear. Let's go meet her." Robert assured his wife.

"Mom!" the couple heard from a distance. It was Taylor. She was nearly a hundred feet away at that point standing on top of a bus stop bench with Vincent beside her.

Taylor's attention was stolen by an enormous stream of bright blue fire ripping through the skyline overhead. Glass and debris rained down on the screaming people. Taylor covered her head. Her parents were not able to reach her due to the crowd growing thicker and more panicked.

Then it got unusually darker. It was as if a thick cloud was passing. Taylor looked up. For a second, she couldn't tell what to make of it, then when she realized, she was left speechless as she looked at her parents. She knew this was the last she would ever see them.

The top half of the Chrysler Building came plummeting down onto the people in an explosion of force, glass, and metal. The impact it made was unimaginably loud. Taylor and Vincent were not directly under the falling construction. However they were thrown from the bench. Taylor blacked out.

Taylor opened her eyes to a dark, dead, and decollate New York City street. The sky was completed covered in thick dark clouds. The ground was littered with rubble and debris. The buildings were blackened and falling apart. The city seemed like the old skeleton of once living city. She got up and turned around to see the top of the Chrysler Building lying in the street.

She then heard something from the sky. She couldn't tell what it was. It sounded like the horrible screech of some beast. A likely possibility her mind first went to was that it was Godzilla, but that idea was quickly proven horribly wrong. Up in the black sky, Taylor saw two enormous glowing red eyes open up, then another two, then another two. All six on them glared into Taylor.

"Bow down to your Keizer…" a hideous crackled voice whispered.

Taylor only stood in horror and shock. Her eyes broke captivation just for a second to see wings on each side of the six eyed demon that seemed as though they could blanket the entire island. Then the most indescribable alien cackle rang in her ears. It forced her to shut her eyes tightly and cover her ears.

Taylor opened her eyes to a sunny and cloudless sky. Her ears were ringing. She wasn't sure what was going on. "Mom? Dad?" she said softly.

A shadow moved over Taylor. Over her loomed something very tall and dark. It was silhouetted by a bright blue light illuminating from behind it.

"Taylor! Taylor!" a muffled voice said.

Taylor's wits snapped to and she realized that she was looking up at Godzilla. She heard Vincent's voice.

"Taylor, get up!" Vincent yelled. He lifted her up to her feet. She stumbled at first, but then began running. She did not think of her parents. She did not think of the terrifying vision she had just experienced. She didn't even think about Godzilla on her heels. Her basic instinctual functions had taken over. Her heart was running faster than her legs.

"Ramming speed!" Admiral Aso demanded from the control room.

Before Godzilla could unleash his atomic blast, the Gotengo II's drill nose plowed into the monster's chest. He screeched out in pain. His dorsal spines dimmed. Claws tried digging into the sides of the ship in order to pull it away, but the ship's rear jets overpowered the beast. Godzilla did, however, manage to slam the airship into the sides of the buildings.

After a little more punishment from the drill, the ship reversed and flew vertically up. The ship would remain directly above Godzilla bombarding him. The crew knew a disadvantage that Godzilla had: He appeared to have a little difficulty looking directly up. He could do it, however, but he risked falling backwards due to his heavy spines. He also had trouble maneuvering in the dense city.

The three members of the GFAAU leaped from the Gotengo. For a short time, they were in free fall. Then the gravity jets on their heavy armored power suits kicked in. They each landed safely on roof tops in front of Godzilla.

Glenn, Jason, and Philippe were equipped with minigun sized hand-held maser cannons.

"Aim for the chest wound! Fire at will!" Glenn yelled. All at once, three blue bolts of lightning were fired at Godzilla's wounded chest. The monster shrieked out in agony as the bolts of plasma surged through his body.

The Gotengo rained down its full metal missiles onto Godzilla. The missiles blew off small chunks of his flesh. When the fire and smoke cleared from around the beast, it could be seen that his spines had illuminated again.

"He's ready to fire! Evasive maneuvers! Go! Go!" Glenn ordered. His team scattered to avoid the directed blast.

Then, however, Godzilla performed a stunt that was not at all predicted, as he is one to regularly do. Not being able to take out the Gotengo from his current stance, he had flung himself around and over to face the pestering airship above him. He then released his blue, fiery rage unto the underside of the ship. Its diamond plated hull prevented the blast from obliterating it. Godzilla crashed down on his back.

"Admiral, we've taken a direct hit!" a crewman reported. "The hull can't take another one!"

"Head east! We'll attack from a distance." Aso ordered. The Gotengo immediately left the fighting ring.

Godzilla struggled to get back up out of all the rubble he had just created. When he did, he was instantly assaulted by maser fire.

He could see it, his objective. He was getting closer to the Xilian Mothership. And he was not going to let these tiny humans with lightning irritate him any further. His dorsal spines illuminated. Hit atomic blast spewed from his mouth as began to turn himself around.

The GFAAU agents leaped away as fast as they could to get away from the blast.

Godzilla continued to rotate around burning a gigantic circle several blocks around him. When he stopped, the humans with lightning were gone and all he heard was the crackle of the fire around him.

Glenn Adams landed hard in the middle of the street. He gasped for breath before he used him communicator.

"Jason. Philippe. You guys read me?"

"Jason here. Still kicking," Jason said over the comm.

"Philippe here. As am I," Philippe replied.

"Alright guys," Glenn said. "We need to take the big fella down quick before he pulls another stunt like that. Let's regroup. I've got a plan that's been rolling around in my head for a while."

Godzilla was nearing the Xilian mothership hovering over the Upper East Side. He hadn't realized how huge the sphere was until he was so close to it.

He wasted no time. His dorsals ignited. Blue flames grew in his mouth and licked his lips as they parted. Then, with the force of an atomic blast, Godzilla's weapon spewed from him maw and clashed with the Xilian mothership.

All the lights and machines in the mothership shut off, and the next second, the entire mothership shook and tilted as the force of the blast rotated the great ship a few degrees.

"By Zero! Was that the Godzilla?!" The Erzherzog demanded to know from the engineers over his communicator.

"It was, my Erzherzog! Almost all our energy was instantly redirected to the shields. The shields took the brunt of the blast, but the hull has been breached! We're losing air pressure! We need to give out oxygen tanks; it won't be long before we start suffocating!"

"Damn it!" the Erzherzog cursed. "Use reserve power to get us away from Godzilla! Launch the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma along with every fighter we can put an xilian soldier in!"

The Erzherzog commands were partially followed. The mothership used its reserve power to fly over to towards Upper Manhattan, trying to get out of the line of Godzilla's sight. As it did, a door opened at the top of the mothership. Like a swarm of furious hornets, smaller fighter ships (about the size of fighter jets) flew forth and began to open laser fire on Godzilla.

The Erzherzog watched as the fighters attacked the monster. Godzilla swatted and swung his tail at them but could not hit the little hornets. The Erzherzog was, however, confused as to why the three battleships has not deployed. Also, only about thirty of the Xilian fighters had been launched.

"Why haven't the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma been launched?!" the Erzherzog demanded to know over the his comm system.

"Because I overruled the order," the Keizer's voice came over. "We don't need the entire armada for one creature."

"Are you sure you're not underestimating this creature, my keizer?" the Erzherzog asked with agitation.

"Now is not the time for questioning your keizer or your rebel hard-headedness. You need to supervise the evacuation of our people from the damaged side of the ship."

"Yes, my Keizer," the Erzherzog replied, knowing the Keizer was right.

The small and nimble fighters grew increasingly annoying to the already infuriated Godzilla. He wanted to destroy the invaders' mothership. He wanted vengeance, but the fighters were holding him back. He wasn't going to have it.

His dorsal spines charged, and the rage within erupted forth. Godzilla swung his head around trying to hit as many of the pests as possible. When the blast was finished, all of the fighters remained. Godzilla had not hit a single one. They only continued hitting him with their lasers. The stings grew increasingly annoying.

The Erzherzog rushed through the hallways of the mothership. The air was different. It was thinner that he was used to. Earth's atmosphere had much less oxygen that Xilians needed to live without some kind of breathing aid. It was slightly strenuous to breath, but the Erzherzog was able to manage. It was the Xilians in the hallways that were having trouble. Most were crawling while others were being aided by others with breathing masks.

He went through the many rooms, helping people out. The Erzherzog held them, one by one, and took them away from the breach in the hull to where the air was thicker behind a large air tight door.

Each Xilian thanked their Erzherzog extensively upon finally being able to breath. They all told him there lives were not worth risking his own over. He took their praises coldly by either saying nothing or telling them to do as their Erzherzog demands.

He saw the light of the sun shining from a room. Air was being sucked into the room and out the hole that must have been there. He entered one room and was stunned to see the human cityscape through a gaping hole in the hull of mothership. Almost half the room had fallen away. It was near where Godzilla had struck. The area was completely exposed to the Earth air. The wind this high up whipped by and muted all other sounds.

The Erzherzog spotted an xilian female nurse curled up in a corner. He made his way towards her, being careful where his set his foot. He feared the wind might just sweep him away. But in short time, be grabbed the nurse and pulled her out of the room and led her where he took the others.

When the nurse could finally speak, the Erzherzog expected another grateful thank-you, but what she said was far from a sign of relief.

"I'm sorry, my Erzherzog! I'm so sorry!" The nurse cried out.

"None of this is your fault. You can calm down. Everything will be alright," the Erzherzog told her.

"No, no! The newborn child, he was in my care when… when everything blew up. I didn't grab him. I've failed my duty!"

The Erzherzog's stomach sank and he could have swore his heart stopped for a second. With shocked open eyes, he murmured "Not the child" and bolted off back to the half torn away room he was just in.

He tried hearing for the child's cry, but the wind was too loud. He could not hear anything. He quickly started moving debris. He started by just moving stuff aside, but as his anxiety grew, he began to throw anything in his way out the gaping hole in the ship. He began to pray in his head. He prayed to Zero that the child was still there. And almost as if his prayer was answered, he saw a toppled over crib. As he got closer, he saw something wrapped in a blanket by the crib in the floor. He rushed to pick it up.

It had been a long time since he had felt such joy as he did when he held the baby when it was born. But he would have to wait longer to feel that joy again. Something was wrong. The smile that was on his face was gone. He moved the blanket from the child's face. Horror and despair filled every bit of his being. With the very last bit of strength it had, the child tried to take in a short breath. The boy then looked up at the Erzherzog. All the subtle movements of life had stopped. The baby was cold and still.

The violent wind whipped against the Erzherzog. He only stood there. He couldn't save the boy. He had failed to protect his people. A heaviness came upon him. More than the reality of what had just happened. He truly loved his people, every last one of them. Having this child be taken from him felt just as painful as losing a long time friend. It felt as if he had lost his own child. Heavier and heavier the pain grew in his stomach. His mouth opened to let out a weakened and choked cry of anguish. With the pain within growing, he let out another, louder outcry. With tears pouring down his face, the next outcry became a yell. Then breaking his eyes from the child, he looked ahead at the monster responsible for his pain. The seemingly unstoppable devil that has plagued his people since before they had arrived on this Earth. He looked directly into the eyes of Godzilla from a few miles away. To his surprise, Godzilla was looking directly at his too; right into his eyes. The force of Godzilla's glare might have brought the Erzherzog to his knees in fear under other circumstances, but the seething fire within him was just as hot as the one in Godzilla. He just glared back.

The Erzherzog unleashed a loud yell of pain and hatred. However it was completely deafened by the simultaneous roar of Godzilla. And then he felt it again, the power he felt before; the strength, the energy.

He sat his failure down beside him. Then he launched forward. With a few strides, the floor beneath him was gone. He was falling into the city below. However, he was not falling in a straight line. His path was curving towards the ship. It was whatever he was feeling inside. He was pulling himself towards the ship. And when his feet met the ship, he hit the hull running. Running along the underside of the ship, he reached a spot near the very bottom, and plunged an immensely powerful fist. And then he was inside.

"My Keizer! The locks for Alpha, Beta, and Gamma have malfunctioned!" an xilian engineer informed the Keizer on the combat deck.

"Why is this a priority? I need you to keep me updated on the status of our fighters," the Keizer replied.

"The order has already been put through to fire the main plasma cannon! The system won't let me intervene. I'm locked out!"

A rage erupted within the Keizer. He knew who was to blame. "If the sub-ships fire the main cannon, will the main ship be able to remain elevated?"

"No, my Keizer. The cannon would only fire at forty three percent and the main ship will fall to the surface."

"Zero, deliver me!" the Keizer exclaimed, "Send an assault team to the central systems room. Tell them, as an order directly from their Keizer, to eliminate anyone who is tampering with the controls. Anyone!"

The order was sent.

The Erzherzog operated the controls frantically. He was completely familiar with the inner workings of most of the control systems on the ship. He grew up around them and had easy access to them. Controlling the three sub-ships remotely was challenging, but not beyond his abilities. The only thing that had been stopping him was the massive deadbolts locking the sub-ships in their bays. That was no longer a problem after he manually pulled each of the several thousand pound bolts out one by one.

The ships were ready to be aimed. But the Erzherzog was interrupted. The sound of conformed footsteps came from behind him. He turned around to see a squad of soldiers with Xilian assault rifles. The rifles were pointed at him.

"Stand dow…" the Erzherzog began.

Before he had a chance to finish, the squad leader ordered "Fire!"

With a blast of yellow light and the explosive sound of laser fire, a hail of laser bolts shot at the Erzherzog. In his mind, the beams seemed to move slower than laser beams should. Everything seems slower. He believed he was going to die. He feebly held his hand out to stop the beams.

To everyone's surprise, however, it worked. The bright needle like beams of energy hung motionless at the Erzherzog's palm as if stuck in an invisible wall.

"Fire again!" the squad leader ordered.

With more and more beams of energy being shot at the Erzherzog, and all of them stopping at his hand, he understood the power he had inside him. He pulled his hand back, then with a mighty push, forced the energy beams back at the Xilians who had fired them. In a hail of extreme heat and sparks, the whole squad fell at once.

"I am sorry, my brothers," he said under his breath. "Godzilla... I have to stop Godzilla. Must focus."

He turned back around and continued working the controls.

Godzilla advanced on the great sphere. Being bombarded by laserfire no longer slowed him. He was a juggernaut.

Then the Xilien mothership did something different. The three subships that were anchored to the side of the mothership detached, but remained hovering close. They moved from the lower hemisphere of the mothership to the side facing Godzilla. They formed a triangle and began to glow yellow.

Godzilla stopped his advance and gave a perplexed expression.

Yellow lightning arched between the three glowing sunships. The frequency of the electrical arches increased. The subships moved closer to one another, slowly pinching like the hand of a three clawed beast. Then then the ships' tips almost touched, a little ball in light appeared in the middle. It hummed and crackled with energy.

Godzilla grew tired of watching the massive thing move about. He wanted to end it. After he gave an imposing roar, his dorsals began to illuminate.

The subships slowly separated as the ball of energy between then grew larger, brighter, and more powerful.

"Fry, you damn lizard!" the Erzherzog yelled before he commanded the cannon to fire.

Godzilla's atomic blast spewed forth, and so did the massive cannon's payload. A ball of energy a quarter the size of the mammoth mothership broke free and barreled towards Godzilla. It looked like a small glowing moon crashing onto the city. With a clash equivalent to a thousand claps of thunder, the yellow ball of energy collided with the blue torrent of radioactive fire. Godzilla's blast was able to slow down the enemy's attack, but pushing it back was futile. As the ball plowed through its target's attack, it sent out tremendous amounts of heat along with the shockwaves. Godzilla's breath finally gave out, and with nothing hold it back, the energy ball bolted forth. Taking out whole city blocks as it bulldozed towards Godzilla. It had the force of an atomic bomb.

Godzilla roared in opposition as the wall of light and power collided with him. With a force he had never been hit with before, the blast pushed Godzilla back block by block with no sign of weakening. It pushed him all the way back to the bay. Tumbling over the docks, Godzilla crashed down into the water causing a small tidal wave to flood part of Brooklyn.

The mothership began to fall. It was not a sudden drop, but a slow dissension as the engines struggled to hold the city sized ship in the air. It flattened all the buildings unfortunate enough to be underneath it.

"We're descending fast, my Keizer, but the landing won't be too severe," an engineer informed his leader, "and we're doing our best to keep the the ship level."

"Good job," the Keizer responded, "but we won't be out of trouble until we've recharged the fuel cells."

With a painfully slow speed, the mothership was almost to the ground. Tons of dust and debris were kicked up as the city blocks were crushed.

Then with a crash unlike anything else heard by humanity, the ship finally met the ground, nesting in the middle of Upper Manhattan. The landing showed east coasters what west coasters went through whenever a major earthquake hit. The quake was felt throughout New York City and a little beyond. Dirt and dust was thrown up into the sky, dimming the light from the sun.

Godzilla's head emerged from the water. He looked at the fallen sphere. It was barely visible through the dust, but the top of the immense vessel could be seen for miles.

Godzilla felt weak, but he wasn't through. His enemy was down. It was his opportunity to finish it.

The Keizer overlooked the status reports of the ship. He was so preoccupied that he had not noticed that everyone in the room had stopped when they saw who was standing in the doorway.

"I'm curious. Are you trying to kill your own people, or are you as incompetent as you seem?" the Erzherzog asked.

The voice of the Erzherzog sent a chill down the Keizer's back. But when he realized what the Erzherzog had said to him in front of his subordinates, shock turned into seething anger.

"Don't you realize what your brash impulsiveness has done?! The mothership is grounded and we are without power throughout most of the ship. We're defenseless and running out of air!"

"Godzilla was about to destroy the mothership! One of his attacks breached the hull. One more would have gone clear through us! And you send fighters that are no more than pests to him. Your fear of using our full power and scarring these primitive Earthlings has put the last of the Xilian race in more risk than it already is!"

"What you have done, willingly acting against the wisdom of your Keizer, is treason."

"Is that why you sent a squad to kill me? Just like you underestimate Godzilla, you sorely underestimate me."

"Enough!" the Keizer chopped the air to cut off the conversation.

"The child is dead…"

"... And more will be born."

The Erzherzog scowled. He backed away, then left.

The Keizer was left frozen in a room full of eyes that had returned their lock on him. "Get back to work. There's still too much to be done," he told his people.

The Keizer knew that the Erzherzog had changed. He watched him grow up, acted as a father to him. In the Xilian culture, the biological parents played a much smaller role in the lives of children compared to how most humans rear their children, but Xilian parents still acted as mentors when the child needed them. The Keizer saw the Erzherzog as a sort of son.

"My Keizer! The Godzilla is approaching!" an engineer shouted.

The Keizer turned to the screen before him. Godzilla, slow and limping, marched towards them.

In the city below, Glenn leapt from building to building racing towards Godzilla.

"Can you boys keep the big guy distracted?" Glenn requested through their com links.

"Where are you, Glenn?" asked Philippe, "I have lost your visual."

Glenn did not reply. He was actually concentrating very hard on something.

It was Jason that spotted Glenn. "Bloody hell!" he exclaimed, "The son of a bitch of is on the son of a bitch!"

Glenn was busy hopping up Godzilla's dorsal spines one by one with the help of his gravity jet.

"Just make sure he doesn't wiggle around too much, will you?" Glenn asked. "And don't let him light up, whatever you do!"

"Understood!" Philippe answered. He proceeded to leap from rooftop to roof top towards Godzilla. He jumped down to street level and landed on a car about two hundred feet from the monster. "Oy!" he shouted.

Godzilla actually heard this and looked down. He was shot in the nose by Philippe's maser. When Godzilla tried to step on Philippe, Philippe simply shot Godzilla in the foot. He managed to shoot right underneath a toenail causing Godzilla extreme discomfort.

Jason began suppressing fire from a rooftop.

Meanwhile, Glenn was leaping up Godzilla's back praying he didn't get the feeling to torch anymore of the city. Godzilla's constant moving made landing on the pointed spines a little difficult, but he was half way up by that point. He put his gravity jet into high jump mode and was able to leap up to and kick off each dorsal spine. Godzilla made a sudden twist while Glenn was in mid flight, but Glenn managed to land on his shoulder. With one more exceptional jump, Glenn had landed on top of the monster's rigged head. Fortunately, he hadn't been noticed.

The team was still firing on Godzilla from below. Godzilla unleashed an aggravated roar that nearly blew Glenn's eardrums out. Glenn managed to hold his maser and plant it straight down onto the top of Godzilla's head. He fired.

The heat Glenn felt from being so close to the maser was scorching. His instincts told him to stop, but he wouldn't let his hand release the trigger. He wouldn't fail like he did in Beijing.

Godzilla didn't even manage to get one final cry out. He was instantly knocked out. His knees failed and his whole body began to collapse forward. The other GFAAU members used their gravity jets to get out of the falling titan's shadow. Godzilla fell to the ground with a loud boom. Philippe just barely made it, being hurled forward by the shock wave. The air was thick with dust and smoke.

"Glenn, where are you?" Philippe used his comm link. "Glenn, are you all right?!"

The dust cleared. Glenn came strolling down Godzilla's face with a thoroughly exhausted expression. He also appeared to have a severe sunburn from the heat of the maser. A big grin formed on Glenn.

"Thunder lizard is down for the count!" Glenn announced. He, himself, then collapsed to the ground. Jason and Philippe rushed to help him up.

Godzilla's body was out of commission, but his mind still had a spark left. Mothra was still able to speak to him.

"Gojira!" Mothra's voice sounded in his head. "Get up!"

But everything was dark and hazy. A horrific throbbing pain filled his head. He had forgotten what he was even doing.

"If you don't get up, they'll kill you as soon as they recover."

Godzilla didn't remember who "they" were. He didn't know where he was.

"The invaders! You are here for your vengeance! And you can't have it if you're dead."

Invaders. Vengeance. Vengeance for… his son.

Jason and Philippe carried Glenn away from the fallen Godzilla.

"So I guess we retire now?" Philippe asked.

Jason smiled.

Then Godzilla's eye opened behind them. He groaned.

The G-force agents turned around.

"You had to go and speak too bloody soon, didn't yu'?" Jason remarked.

Godzilla shifted and moved. He slowly raised himself up. He stood tall once again, but he swayed from still being dizzy. He turned himself around back to the sea.

The three G-force agents were lucky to not be in his path. Glenn regained consciousness only to see their target walking off to terrorize another day. At least he saved this day, though.

The Xilian fighters had already retreated. And the soldiers piloting them were helping with recovery efforts within the mothership. The battle was over. There was no one to chase after Godzilla.

"That's it, Gojira. Regain your strength…" Mothra whispered to Godzilla in his head.

Without any hindrance, Godzilla reached the shore of the river. He let himself fall into the water and disappear beneath the waves.


	16. Ch 15

Chapter 15

Unhidden Hands

A week past. Godzilla's attack on New York had been the last of the monster attacks. The world was finally calm. Both humans and Xilians were working to rebuild.

At the Gotengo base in Tokyo, life was as hard as anywhere else in the world where monsters had attacked. People still packed the base having nowhere else to go. But thanks to Vincent, Gordon, and Yukie helping a great deal, things went by a little smoother.

Taylor Martin stood on top of the wide man-made plateau that was the top of the mostly subterranean Gotengo base. The sun was setting and there was a breeze that swept her hair up.

Most of the dust from the destruction had finally settled. It was safe to be outside without a mask. Without the dust obscuring everything, Taylor could at last see the fullness of the carnage caused. She did not know this city, but she easily related to its pain. She saw Manhattan get torn apart, this city's people must feel the same.

Taylor felt her hair. Water pressure was restored to parts of the city and she had been able to take showers (short, cold ones). However she had no shampoo. It left her hair dry and very unkept.

"There you are!" Vince said as he came through the roof access door. "Some of the other girls said you were up here. What's up?"

A lot was up with Taylor. Her entire life had been taken away from her. She felt like she was living outside her own life; plucked out and places here.

"Where are we going to live after we get out of here?" Taylor asked.

"Well, I hadn't even had much time to think about it." He stood by her and looked out over the city with her. "I guess we could live wherever we want. Whole new life. Not a fresh start we necessarily wanted, but one we're getting anyway."

Taylor looked down at her feet.

"I still feel like they're waiting at home for us…," she said.

Vince wrapped an arm around Taylor.

"It has been announced today that this year's olympic games will be held on schedule despite everything that has happened recently," the news anchor reported. "The Olympic Games Committee has even offered an invitation to leaders of the Xilian people. The Xilian Keizer then sent his response in the form of a video."

The news feed cut to the pre recorded video of the Keizer. "On behalf of the Xilian people, we thank you for your offer and happily accept. Myself along with the Erzherzog and a few more officials will be attending your games."

Glenn Adams along with the other members of G-force were watching the news in the Godzilla Memorial Lounge.

"Aliens! Smeshnoy!" Anton Gorodetsky announced in Russian. "Like the meme says, I'm done with this planet, I'm leaving!"

Ignoring the Russian's ranting, as he usually did, Philippe changed the topic. "Glenn, will you be using your ticket?" he asked, referring to the tickets to the Olympic Games they had all received as a present from New York for taking down Godzilla.

"Yeah, I suppose," Glenn replied. "Would've liked tickets to a Red Socks game, but I've never been to the Olympics before."

"Bringing your new lover, no?" Philippe asked with a grin. "You said she was coming. Are you pulling a leg?"

"Get outa here! She'll be here any..." just then, Glenn saw her. Miss Namikawa entered the lounge in search of Glenn. Both of theirs eyes lit upon seeing the other. "Boys, let me introduce to you the Lovely Miss Namikawa."

"Oh! You're too much, Glenn."

"Baby, these are my boys," Glenn introduced. "The rambunctious bunch known as 'GFAAU.'"

"Hello. It's such a pleasure to meet you all. To be honest, I'm in a little disbelief that I'm meeting the men who took down Godzilla!"

"Madam," Philippe spoke up. "You should know that it was Glenn that struck the final blow to the monster."

"Is that true, Glenn darling?!"

"Well, kind of," Glenn answered. "I mean, he got away in the end. So it wasn't the 'final blow.' But, uh, I knocked the sucker out."

"That's amazing, dear!"

Jason had remained pretty silent. He had been somewhat antisocial ever since he talked to Glenn in that same lounge a week ago. He decided now to speak up. "So what did you before, uh, the apokalypse?"

"I was a secretary. The building I worked in, including the building I lived in, were destroyed. But the shelter in the military base where that enormous airship is kept is very well run."

"It was the cyborg with the blades that ruined your livelihood?" Philippe asked.

"Yes, the Gigan decimated my whole neighborhood."

"The what?!" Jason inquired.

"Oh!" Namikawa slipped. The Gigan was not given a name yet by the people of earth. "I just heard someone call it Gigan, the cyborg monster."

"Where yu' from?" Jason asked, looking Namikawa directly in the eye.

"Right... here in Tokyo. My whole life." Namikawa grew nervous.

"Hey, is this twenty questions or something?" Glenn stepped in. "Are you ready to go, baby?"

"Yes, Glenn. I'm starving."

"You're going out to eat?" Philippe wondered. "The city is hardly back on its feet. What places are even open."

Glenn answered. "Um, we're having dinner in my quarters."

"Ah!" Anton saw his chance to be an ass. "They're splitting rations in his room! That's the trusiki kapel'nitsy back in my home town!"

Glenn knew enough Russian to know that "trusiki kapel'nitsy translated to "panty dropper." "Watch that mouth, Anton! Later boys!" he walked off with Namikawa, his arm over her shoulders.

Philippe asked Anton "Is that all you need to spend the evening with a Russian woman?"

"That. And about sixty rubles can help too."

"I expected as much from you." Philippe grinned.

The two continued to converse. Jason sat motionless. His mind raced with possibilities to explain what he just saw. He was sure he had not looked away. He was locked onto Miss Namikawa's eyes. She had not blinked once that Jason saw while she was there.

Kazama stood at the entrance of Anne's and Miki's small private tent. Many people made their way back and forth up and down the wide halls of Gotengo Base. It was all very unfamiliar to Kazama. It made his uneasy. Anyone who stepped too closely to the entrance of the tent received a dirty glare from Kazama who was guarding it.

Even Yuki got a look when she stepped towards the tent. "You don't mind if I check on the baby, now do you?" Yuki asked with a smile.

Kazama mumbled something just barely audible as he nodded and stepped aside allowing Yuki in.

Yuki uneasily stepped in while keeping her eyes on Kazama as if expecting a guard dog to attack. Then she looked to the new mother and child. "How's little Miki and mommy doing?"

"Very well. Thank you, Nurse Yuki," Anne answered.

Yuki began to inspect Miki. "I see you have yourself a watchdog. Doesn't Kazama want to spend some more time with his new daughter?"

"He sat with us for a little while. But he gets uncomfortable inside sometimes."

"Just claustrophobic?"

"Well, not really." Anne became distant, in deeper thought. "It's his way of showing he cares. He stands guard. He feels like he has to protect us. I had no idea he'd still be like this after we got out of Vietnam."

"Vietnam!? What were you two doing there?!"

"I was with my family on our yacht when we were attacked by pirates. I was taken and sold to this militia group. That's when I met Kazama. He had a similar story; captured. Although he had been there for a few years. And he was Japanese too, so I guess I was pretty lucky. He would come see me at night and bring me food.

"Soon after that, he took me and we escaped. That's about the time I fell in love with him. If we had been caught, they would have killed him. We made our way through the jungle, setting up camp at night. And he would stand outside the tent… all night. He stood guard every night and walked with me every day. I don't think he slept those few days, not until we made it into China. We both wanted to come back home, back to Japan. And here we are, monster or no monster."Anne looked down at Miki. "We couldn't have Miki be born in a nasty, hot jungle, could we?" she said in a cute baby tone.

"I never knew, Anne," Yuki was on the verge of tears.

Kazama entered the tent.

"Miki's doing perfectly well. I'll be back in a few hours to check up." Yuki left.

Anne smiled at Kazama. "Is the coast clear, Kaz?"

"This place is too cramped. We should leave once you're stronger," Kazama stated stoically.

"We're in the same boat at a lot of people. We'll get out in time. For now, why don't you hold Miki. She missed you."

Miki, eye's closed, let out a yawn.

"So at this point, Jason is already shitfaced," Glenn continues his story as Miss Namikawa listens with delight across the small table in Glenn's private quarters. They had just finished a candlelit dinner (a military ration on a plate lit by a small utility candle). "My friend Fuji, Philippe, and I all agree it's time to get the guy out of their. He actually agrees! Good so far. Then he asks what his tab is. The bartender tells him in Japanese. Jason leans over to Fuji and slurs 'The fu' he say?' And Fuji tells him forty-three hundred yen. Then Jason gets this dimmwitted and lost look in his face. He turns to the bartender and says 'Hey hey hey! What kind of crook job you settin' up 'ere! You think tourists have that kinda money?!' And he won't stop yelling at this poor bartender trying to close shop. I tried to tell him forty-three hundred yen was twenty or twenty-five pounds, but I didn't get through."

Both Glenn and Namikawa were laughing. It had less to do with the story and more to do with engaging one another.

"Oh, but then it gets better! This big sumo wrestler of a guy comes up and taps Jason on the shoulder and tells him to leave. Me and the guys are tellin' him the same thing. 'Jason, let's go!' But Jason, deciding to be a drunk dumbass starts shoving this big guy with little effect. After a little tussling, the big guy manages to pick Jason up over his head! And I have to leap out of the way as he literally throws Jason out into the street! Oh man! And we ended up carrying the sorry lush back to the hotel."

The two don't say anything for a short while. They only share each other's eyes. Then Namikawa snapped out of it. "Oh, um, I'm sorry Glenn. There was something I needed to take care of tonight. I hadn't realized what time it was." Namikawa got up from her chair.

"Ya. Didn't mean to keep you so long. Just lost track of time."

Glenn went to embrace her. A part of her was pulling her towards the door, but something greater held her in place to accept Glenn.

With Namikawa in the firm lock of his arms, Glenn landed a kiss on her ruby red lips. Namikawa's hands made their way up Glenn's back and neck until their fingers were running through his blond hair.

Their lips parted. Glenn whispered "I have another cot if you'd… like to…"

Their lips locked again and at that time Glenn pushed Namikawa up against the door as his hands clutched her hips and moved up.

Jason Sterlington sat in front of his computer monitor, only about 2 inches away, with a driven and intent look in his eyes. What had driven him to such horror were the many tabs open in his internet browser. Jason had looked up several dozen videos of leaders and officials from around the world making statements to their respective peoples concerning the recent events.

What all the videos had in common, aside from their messages of hope and perseverance, were a type of person. Standing next to or behind the leaders of the world were men or women with eyes that did not blink.

Then he remembered Namikawa. "Glenn…" he said under his voice before grabbing his jacket and side arm and bolting out of his room at Gotengo base.

After being thoroughly exhausted, Glenn was fast asleep.

Namikawa seemed to be the same until her eyes sprung open. She lifted her head to inspect her subject. She had made sure he would have a deep, rested sleep. She slowly got out of her cot which had been pushed up next to his. It squeaked a little, but Namikawa was careful. She got out and held the white sheet over her breasts. As she made her way across the room, the white sheet trailed behind her as if she wore an elegant dress. Standing in the light from the window, she looked up at the bright moon. Using the moon, she could tell it was time to leave. Picking through Glenn's jacket, she found his ID card for the base. She got dressed into her tiny red dress and headed towards the door.

Before leaving, she stopped to look back at Glenn. At that moment, she was already missing him. It was only a fraction of a feeling, but she knew what it was. She quickly snuffed the interruption and quietly left.

Namikawa waited in a hallway away from the the tents where people rested. Only one light illuminated the area. Namikawa kept looking back and forth, watching for anyone who may come by.

Then, from a shadowy nook behind Namikawa, someone did emerge. Coming into the light, it was the man who had attempted to assault Namikawa before in the alley.

"Hey," he said.

Namikawa jumped and spun around, holding her chest to still her heart. Upon seeing the face of the man, she calmed down.

"Where did you come from?! And you're late!" she loudly whispered.

"I found this service route. Thought it would be safer," the man whispered back. "Are you sure your subject didn't follow you? I don't want to die tonight."

"No, now come on. I have the ID."

The two silently and cautiously made their way down the hall, made a few turns, and came to a door. The door read "MAIN HANGER: AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY." Namikawa slid Glenn's ID card on the panel. The door slid open.

The two stepped into the hanger. There it was; the Gotengo resting peacefully.

"You go start at the front," Namikawa told her accomplice as she pulled out a device that looked like a thin smartphone or camera. "I'll meet you in the middle. Be quick."

They were interrupted. It was Jason Sterlington. "You weren't quick enough. I knew you were funny."

Namikawa touched her right earing. "You know what's funny?" She smirks. "You came alone."

"Well I think I can handle this punk and a little lady like you."

Around Namikawa and her goon, four strange points appeared. It seemed like these points were bending the light around them inwards. Then there was a flash. The next second, there stood four Xilians in black and blue plastic looking armor and long black coats. There were three men and a woman. They leered at Jason.

"Bullocks!" Jason said to himself. Then he booked it the other way.

The Xilians chased after him down the hanger. The Xilians were fast and ran efficiently like olympic sprinters, but Jason was in top physical shape and also running for his life. All the Xilians pulled out weapons that looked like pistols. With loud electric discharge sounds, the Xilians' pistols fired red lasers at Jason.

One laser hit Jason in the shoulder just before he turned a corner. He cursed out in pain.

When the Xilians reached the corner, they saw Jason already at the other end sliding his ID card at the security door. They fire a few more shots.

Jason hits the ground and dodges them. The door opens for him. He crouches and goes through before the door closes.

The Xilians did not pursue. He was with the other humans and they couldn't risk being seen.

Namikawa looked over to the goon she was with. "You're in disguise. Go get him!" She demanded.

He took off.

"The rest of you," Namikawa continued as she pulled several small blinking devices from her coat. "Place the explosives on the ship. I'll tell you where."

Jason was booking it down the corridors. There were tents with sleeping refugees around him. He glanced behind him to see if he was still being chased. He saw no one. His pace slowed until he stopped.

It was quiet. Most of the people around in the tents were asleep. A few murmured to one another.

Jason knew he had to go get Glenn.

The halls that led to the private quarters of the G-Force agents were uninhabited and quiet.

Jason made his way towards Glenn's room. He moved quickly, but did not run, fearing he would be heard by his pursuers. He knew they had not chased him because he entered a populated area, but now he was alone and vulnerable. He knew he was a tough guy, but also knew his chances against four armed aliens.

But he did not have to worry about the four armed Xilians, just a single stealthy one.

Pouncing from a shadowy nook, the goon that accompanied Namikawa launched at Jason and grabbed him

Jason, surprised, thrashed about to get loose.

The goon clung into Jason's back like a monkey, wrapping his arm tightly around his neck.

Jason threw his backside into the wall repeatedly. Just before Jason lost his strength from suffocation, the goon let go.

As Jason recovered, the goon got a sucker punch in on Jason's stomach.

At first keeled over in pain, Jason shot up delivering an upward headbutt to the goon.

Blue blood gushed from the goons nose.

Jason went to deliver a heavy punch, but his fist was batted away. Before he could deliver another, a powerful hand was wrapped around his neck. He was then swung and thrusted against the wall, still being choked.

Jason kicked and clawed at his opponent, but he was no longer in control. As his lungs failed to take in air, Jason began to black out. Everything got blurry for him.

Through his blurry vision, Jason saw a bright light shine on the goon as his head quickly turned towards it. He heard a muffled "What's going on?! Freeze!"

The goon dropped Jason and ran off. Jason fell to the ground, fully blacking out.


	17. Ch 16

Chapter 16

The Great Fall

"This is too dangerous, my Keizer. We shouldn't be putting ourselves in such a vulnerable position!" said the Erzherzog. "I don't see how you can trust these creatures."

The Keizer spoke with the Erzherzog as a servant was fitting an atmosphere device to his neck. The devices fit around the user's necks. It would intake the surrounding air, condense the amount of oxygen, and used a space bending field to direct most of the Xilian suitable air into the wearer's face. With this, an Xilian could breath in Earth's atmosphere until the battery could no longer hold a charge. One battery's life could last a few Earth years if used constantly. The Xilians had very few of these devices and even fewer of the batteries (charged by body heat) that powered them.

"The fate of our people depends on trusting them," said the Keizer. "They're weakened and far too busy recovering to start a war. That was the goal and that goal has been reached."

When the device was fitted onto the Keizer, it began to operate and then it became invisible. It appeared that the Keizer was wearing nothing around his neck.

Another servant approached the Erzherzog with an atmosphere devise.

The Erzherzog held up a hand. "I can put it on myself," he told the servant who sat the device on a table. He turned back the Keizer. "But is being among so many of them necessary? The thought is so revolting!"

"All of their nations take part in these games. We wish to become one of their nations. We must show our support."

The Erzherzog looked irritated. "Very well, my Keizer."

The Keizer threw the Erzherzog a suspicious look.

The Tokyo olympic stadium was filled with spectators. The games went on and people cheered.

Thousands of volunteers made the events possible. Outside and around the stadium were plenty of games and carnival rides. All of it put together by the Japanese government as well as other more fortunate nations. Access to the stadium nor any of the carnival events cost the people anything. This grand event was put on to raise the moral of the people who had been living in hell for the past few weeks. And it was working. People were happy.

What lured so many people the the games was not only the games and festivities. The Xilian Keizer along with his top officials were attending the event in person. They were watching the olympic games from a bullet proof box in the stadium. Oxygen levels were maintained to suit Xilians within the box.

The people below peered up at the Keizer: their savior from the monsters.

The Keizer smiled and waved at the masses as he stood in front of the large window. He then addressed the Erzherzog. "Don't you see? They love us. We are their new friends; their saviors. Not invaders."

The Erzherzog slouched in his chair, leg kicked out and resting his cheek on his fist. He had no reply to the Keizer.

The Keizer turned to the Erzherzog. "Why don't you rejoice with me?!" he asked with a joyful laugh and a smile. "We've done it! Our journey is at an end. Our people have a home!"

The Erzherzog erupted from his seat, shooting down the Keizer's joy. "Home?! You call this toxic planet a home? Our people are still trapped in the mothership! And if you think these animals will be friendly for long, then you are a fool!"

The Keizer smirked and chuckled as the Erzherzog looked puzzled. "I'm not even angered by your stubbornness anymore. You'll see. There may be obstacles, but the Xilian people and these humans will live together and love one another in time."

The Erzherzog dropped back into his chair with no reply, only a grimace.

Outside the stadium, Vincent and Taylor were playing against each other in a carnival game involving milk bottles and tennis balls. Taylor won.

"The games will be starting soon. Want to go get our seats?" Vincent asked.

"Yah, you look pretty tired of losing," Taylor replied jokingly.

On there way into the stadium, Taylor look the time to look around. The sky was bright and blue with only a few clouds. There was still some dust in the air, but overall the air was much clearer than it had been. Birds were flying. One larger bird burst from a tree as it was being chased by two smaller birds defending their nest. Taylor looked down at the flowers by the walkway. They were shades of red and yellow. Bees bustled around them.

After being stuck inside the Gotengo base for weeks, Taylor joyfully bathed in the down pouring sunlight on her bare shoulders and legs.

"You know, I'm starting to like Tokyo," Taylor said.

"Me too," Vincent replied. "Grandpa Steve had said it was beautiful. I couldn't imagine why he wanted to come back after going through the hell he did."

"The Xilians were able to beat Godzilla easy. That pretty much means we don't have to worry about him or any other monster again, right?"

"Yah. I'd imagine, Taylor," Vincent smiled at his sister. "It's all over."

Jason Sterlington was unconscious in a bed in the Gotengo base med bay. He wore a hospital gown. The heart monitor beeped at a regular pace. He had bruises around his neck and a bad bump on his head.

His eyes began to open slowly. As he came to, he took in his surroundings.

Then the heart monitor began beeping faster as Jason's eyes opened widely. He quickly sat up, realizing what had happened to him and realizing what he knew.

Frantically, he jumped out of the bed, tearing the heart monitor sensors off of him, and looked around for his clothes.

The hospital gown did little to cover his backside. Then he found his clothes on a chair nearby.

As he was just finishing getting dressed, nurse Yuki walked in.

"Mister Sterlington. I'm happy to see you up. Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm bloody fine! Now out of my way!" Jason shouted as he barged past Yuki. "You people have no damn idea what's going on!"

Yuki looked shocked to see the GFAAU agent run off. She did not attempt to stop him as he was able to get up and run away. There were people that needed his room that Yuki needed to focus on.

A servant approached the Keizer and the Erzherzog and stated "My Keizer, the Secretary General of Earth's United Nations is here."

A door to the box opened as the Secretary General, Naotaro Daigo, entered.

The Keizer rose. "I, and my cabinet, thank you and the people of Earth for this prestigious invitation!" the Keizer greeted.

"And I on behalf of the United Nations are beyond happy to have you!" The Secretary General bowes. "Come, let us sit! The games are starting!"

The two leaders sat together and smiled as they chatted.

The Erzherzog glared over at them.

Jason had managed to get into the stadium while concealing a pistol. Security was high, but there were so many people, total security was impossible.

Moving through the dense crowd, he wore a cap and a jacket. The sunlight from the center of the stadium shown through the corridor the people were moving through.

Then Jason was out of the corridor and in the sunlight. He looked up at the thousands of people filling the stadium seats.

Then he saw an enormous television screen on the stadium. He looked up and his heart began racing at the sight of the Xilian leaders. He quickly spotted the box they were sitting in.

He made his way through the crowds towards the stadium box.

The Erzherzog looked out at the thousands of people cheering. They were cheering the Xilians. He knew the whole world, at least most of it, was praising their apparent saviors.

But the Erzherzog did not share such warm feelings towards the humans. He despised them. He saw them as primitive animals in comparison to the Xilian race. He knew what they were doing to Earth. They were killing it. And the worst part was that they knew and did not seem to care enough to make necessary changes.

He had seen many pictures of the Earth's surface. It was beautiful. It was a planet he wanted for his people. It was the planet he felt that the Xilians deserved, not the humans. The only problem was the air, but the Xilians had means of terraforming. However, terraforming was out of the question while the humans were living on the planet too.

Along with terraforming, the Xilians had other vast resources at their disposal. They had thousands drone fighters, weapons of cataclysmic destruction, and perhaps most destructive; the army of monsters.

The Erzherzog juggled these thoughts in his head over and over again. He had made up his mind. He had had enough of what he saw as weakness in the Keizer. Under the Keizer's rule, the Xilians would be like slaves contained to their own mothership and whatever land the humans may or may not let them have to build cities. The Erzherzog knew that the love most humans felt towards the Xilians was bound to fade away. He had seen how they fight amongst themselves and how they discriminate based on skin colors even though they're all the same species of worthless animal.

Under the current Keizer's rule, the Xilian people were doomed to live at the whims of the humans. The Erzherzog loved his people, and he was not going to have that.

The Secretary General leaned over to the Keizer. "This game is called football. It's pretty simple. The teams must work together to kick the ball into the opponent's goal. I'll let you know what's happening as it plays. The game is starting now."

"No. No. No," the Erzherzog stood up, still glaring out the window at the animals he despised. Then he reached into his long coat and pulled out an Xilian pistol. He looked at the pistol in his hand.

Both the Keizer and the Secretary General looked confused, then suddenly shocked as the realization sank in their guts.

The Erzherzog looked at his gun and said "The game is over."

He then pointed the gun at the Secretary General and fired. A bright red flash burst from the gun and a short beam of energy struck Naotaro Daigo in the chest.

The Secretary General did not even have time to hold his chest in pain. His death was near instant as the energy bolt obliterated his heart.

And it was all captured on the enormous television screen for everyone to see. The entire stadium fell eerily silent. The action was so sudden and unexpected that few people could actually react.

One of the football players kicked the ball. It traveled freely without any obstacles into the goal. The rest of the players were stunned looking up at the box above.

And then murmurs of concern began all throughout the stadium. People started getting up to make their way out. Fear slowly set in.

Outside the stadium, the people enjoying the festivities turned their heads towards the stadium when the load cheering suddenly ceased. It was as if everyone inside the stadium had all at once vanished.

"Are you getting the same bad feeling I am?" Taylor asked with a chilly fear in her tone.

Vincent nodded.

Jason saw the Secretary General get shot as well. That was when he ditched being subtle and starting running. As the exiting crowds thickened, Jason pushed against them. He eyed his goal, the stadium box.

The Keizer turned away from the dead UN leader and stood up. With a look of sorrow, he turned to the Erzherzog.

"What are you doing?" the Keizer asked.

The Erzherzog could not look at the Keizer. "You told me," he said with a cold emotionless face, "that the Xilian race was once great. We once were the most powerful race in the galaxy."

"Yes. And we'll rise to that status again," the Keizer said as he placed a gentle hand on the Erzherzog's cheek. "That's what you and I are doing."

"No," a tear ran down the Erzherzog's face. "That's what I'm doing." He looked the Keizer in the eyes.

The Erzherzog pulled the trigger. A red beam of energy blasted up. It shot through the Keizer's collarbone and neck.

The Keizer placed his hand on his neck as he looked at the Erzherzog in horror and despair.

The Erzherzog looked back. His own despair had turned into hatred as his frown grew into into a grimace. He pushed the Keizer.

The Keizer fall back into his chair. Blood gushed from his neck uncontrollably. He began to doze off, gurgling and coughing, blanketed in his own blood.

The Erzherzog looked down at his old superior. He was no longer upset. He knew there was much work to do. He held up his communicator and was about to make an order, but was interrupted.

The door to the box was kicked in. Jason entered, gun raised and ready. "Jig's up, you son of a bitch!"

The Erzherzog turned to him in amusement. "Jig?" He cracked a smile and burst out laughing. Then he glared menacingly at Jason. "Your species deserves to be wiped from history. Especially if they can be so stupid that one attempts to subdue me with such a primitive weapon."

"This primitive weapon is all I need to deal with you," Jason retorted, sweat falling from the side of his face.

The Erzherzog then recognized the human he was speaking to. "Ah! I've seen you! You're one of the humans that took on Godzilla, aren't you?!"

"Sorry, I'm not in the mood for a chat! Now put your bloody hands on your head!"

"Bloody? My hands are getting a lot bloodier before I'm through. But tell me something, monster fighter! Do you like a challenge?!"

"Naw. I prefer the quick and easy solution!" Jason looked down his iron sight at the Erzherzog's head. He pulled his trigger.

With three loud bangs, Jason's gun fired three rounds. The bullets exploded from the barrel and headed towards their target.

The Erzherzog, with incredible speed, raised his hand up.

The bullets stopped mid air in front of the Erzherzog's open palm and stayed there.

Jason was in shock.

The Erzherzog laughed again. He placed his gun in his coat. He pulled his free fist back, released the floating bullets from his other hand, then, before the bullets could fall, his fist flew and impacted the bullets with some sort of energy. The bullets went flying right back at Jason.

Jason leapt to the side narrowly dodging the bullets.

"I like your moves!" The Erzherzog laughed again. "Let's see how you do against the Gigan!"

And then, with a flash of light, the Erzherzog had vanished.

Jason got up and looked around. He was alone in the box. Only the dead Secretary General and a very dead looking Xilian Keizer kept him company. Jason noticed that the Keizer was still twitching and lightly gurgling. He almost felt sorry for the alien leader. He walked over to the large window and watched as the now panicking people rushed out of the stadium. People were shoving and fighting as fear took over their minds. For a minute, he thought he saw what the Erzherzog must have seen; a bunch of stupid animals. But Jason understood and did not hate the people. He only wanted to help.

The Erzherzog was teleported back into the mothership which was floating not too far away over Tokyo Bay. In a flash of light, the Erzherzog appeared in the teleportation bay. The several technicians who operated the controls looked at the Erzherzog and looked like they were waiting.

One technician spoke up. "Where is the Keizer?"

The Erzherzog put on a face of anquish. "It was a trap. The humans tricked us… The Keizer has been assassinated."

The room was silent.

The technician asked "What do we do now? Does this mean war?"

"That's exactly what it means." The Erzherzog stepped forward with a serious look in his eyes. "You are speaking to your new Keizer. And your first order is to have the Gigan awakened and teleport it into the city. Drop in right over my last coordinates!"

The Xilian technician looked scared, but quickly pulled himself together. "Yes, my Er… my Keizer! It will be done with great haste."

The Erzherzog, now the new self proclaimed Keizer, turned around and devilishly grinned. "And another small thing..." he ordered.

Jason was standing at the large window. He was trying to call Glenn, but there was no signal. Many cellular towers were still down.

But had no more time to contact anyone.

A blinding flash erupted from the sky. All the fleeing people in the stadium screamed at once. Many thought it was a bomb. But there was no boom. They all looked up, including Jason.

In the sky, falling, was some odd, spiky, black, silver, and red form. It was Gigan.

"Bullocks…" Jason said to himself.

Then there was another flack of light. But to Jason's surprise, it came from behind him. He swung around.

Standing right in front of him, was the new Xilian Keizer with a demented smirk on his face.

"I changed my mind," the new Keizer said as he pulled his arm back. Then, with great speed and force, his fist collided with Jason's chest.

Jason felt his entire rib cage implode. The force had struck his heart. His whole body was thrown through the window behind him.

For Jason, everything seemed to slow down. He saw bits of glass all around him as he flew away from the new Keizer. He flew back and turned up. Above was Gigan, still falling, about to land.

The monster cast a great shadow over the stadium.

Jason wished he could feel the warmth of the sun, but accepted that it was not to be. He was still falling. Then everything faded away for Jason Sterlington, the hardened G-Force agent.

With another flash, the new Keizer teleported away again.

Jason's body hit the bleachers below.

Everybody was screaming in terror at their imminent end.

Gigan landed in the massive stadium in a crouching position with his blades crossed.

The shock wave was so great, everyone fell over. The support columns of the stadium shook and cracked. The monster's landing was felt throughout the city.

Outside, Taylor gripped her brother's hand. She started breathing as the two of them turned towards the stadium.

Vincent started running, pulling Taylor along.

Taylor looked back. She saw Gigan stand up and look around. The monsters shadow stretched for over a mile.

The cyborg screeched and looked down at the fleeing people still in the stadium bleachers.

His forked tail came crashing down on the beachers. Gigan spun himself around, dragging his tail with him. The end of his tail ripped through the inside of the stadium forming a wave of concrete, steel, seats, and people that was inescapable.

The structure could not take anymore. The whole thing began to cave in behind Gigan's tail. People that were still inside were crushed by the falling ceiling.

After turning a full one hundred and eighty degrees, Gigan stopped and looked down at his work. There was no stadium anymore. Only a circular mess of ruble and human bodies.

He saw the people fleeing all around him. His objective was to kill and destroy as much as possible. So he fired his cluster laser. The people in the area of effect were instantly fried into human shaped husks of ash.

Vincent and Taylor were not within the laser's area of effect. Gigan's back was to them at first, but then he turned around.

"Vinnie!" Taylor shouted in horror.

"I saw it! Hurry, get behind that pillar!" Vincent yelled, referring to a pillar holding up an overpass above them.

Gigan fired another cluster laser.

Just as Vincent and Taylor ducked behind the pillar, they felt an incredible burning heat all around the accompanied by blinding flashes of red light and explosions. There were screams all around them too, but they were quickly and suddenly silenced.

Taylor's eyes were clenched shut. When she heard the screaming stop, she was afraid to open them. But the need to escape Gigan made her open them. She was partially blinded by the flash of light, but her vision returned quickly. Around her and her brother were heaps of ash. Taylor screamed out loud in sorrow.

But her mourning was abruptly cut off when a car came crashing down from above just a few yards away. Taylor screamed again in surprise. And then there was another car that crashed down. The two looked up in utter horror. Gigan's blast had partially toppled the overpass. Cars were sliding off and over the edge.

"Run! Run!" Vincent shouted.

The two bolted as the overpass gave way above them.

Another car smashed down. Then another. Then another.

The two dodged the raining automobiles as they kept looking up to see if one was headed their way.

They could see overpass swaying. Then it finally gave way and started to topple over. The rest of the cars came down, missing Vincent and Taylor. The pillars holding the overpass crumbled and the whole thing came down on it's side with an earth shattering crash.

Vincent and Taylor kept running. They were not out of danger. The toppled overpass was falling down on them. A crumbling wall of asphalt and rebar chased them.

Taylor was screaming. They both were sprinting like they had never before. Dust engulfed them. They heard nothing but the sounds of catastrophe just behind them. They saw nothing but the dirt and dust.

Then, some time after the sound of the falling overpass had stopped, the two stopped running. They looked back and still could see nothing.

Then Gigan cried out again.

"We need to get back to base, Tay. It's the safest place right now," Vincent said.

Meanwhile at the Gotengo Base, the Gotengo was preparing for launch. It's powerful engines hummed and revved as they emitted a bright orange glow.

"Engines are go, Captain!" an engineer reported.

Sitting in the Captain's chair was Akira Nakao. He had a serious grimmius on his face due to the circumstances, but a part of him was glad to be back in his chair. A part of him had a bad feeling too. His instincts were telling him to be cautious. If this was a surprise attack, then surly traps are in place. Where and when, he did not know. But at that moment, he had a mission to do.

"Gordon!" Nakao shouted at the communications display before him.

Douglas Gordon was in charge the engine room for this mission. Nakao picked him personally. "Sir!" Gordon replied.

"Is everybody ready for a fight?!"

Gordon along with everyone in the engine room replied at once. "Yes Sir!"

"Good! Them let's take off!"

The Gotengo's engines revved louder. It's drill began to spin as it lifted away from its restraints.

The engineers outside watched the airship lift up in awe. They all hoped that their work was without error. Their city, probably their planet, was on the line.

And then every single person's heart sank deep when there was an explosion. It was by the rear engines. Then another and another explosion running up both sides of the ship.

Gordon and his men were thrown to the floor as the lights inside the ship went dark.

Nakao's heart shattered as the lights on the main deck went out. All control was lost.

Many thought that the ship itself was exploding, but some saw that the explosions were from the surface of the hull. They were planted explosives.

The ship was still hovering, but was not steady. It swayed and bobbed. The engineers outside hurried away in fear of getting crushed by their own ship.

Then the ship bowed forward and drifted that way. It plowed into the thick wall of the hanger. Fortunately the walls of the hanger were very thick and the Gotengo did not crash into a room.

The back end of the ship dropped into the hanger. The front slid out of the hole it had made and fell to the ground as well.

The ship laid silent.

Nakao sat in the chair of his broken vessel, robbed of his rightful glory.

Vincent and Taylor made their way through the streets of Tokyo. They had escaped Gigan for the moment.

Gigan had been hard at work leveling the city; leaving it once again clouded in dust.

His footsteps could be heard and felt in the distance along with the sounds of his destruction.

Up ahead, Vincent saw people come into view through the dust. There were a lot of people. And they were running towards him and Taylor.

Taylor clung close to her brother so as not to be swept away. She had flashbacks of being torn from her parents. She did not want to go through that again and lose her brother too.

Vincent wanted to know why the people were running the opposite way. He grew very concerned and confused.

"Where is everyone going?!" Vincent shouted. "Gigan is that way! You're going the wrong way!"

But no one seemed to pay attention.

Vincent held Taylor and pushed forward. Then he saw a JSDF soldier passing by. Vincent thought that surely he wild know what was going on. He grabbed the soldier.

"Hey! Why is everyone running this way?" Vincent shouted over the crowd.

The soldier looked Vincent straight in the eyes. He looked shaken and scared. Then he said "It's him..."

He pulled away from Vincent and moved along.

Vincent was left more confused. He thought of what the soldier meant. What "him" could put that kind of fear onto a hardened soldier.

Then Vincent came to a horrifying realization. He knew who was here. And he knew his situation had just gotten twice as bad.

Vincent's realization was confirmed. As he was facing the direction the crowd was running, he heard it come from behind.

It was a roar he had come to know too well. And this time, it sounded more rage filled than ever.


	18. Ch 17

Chapter 17

Final War

The new Keizer, formerly the Erzherzog, sat in the command room aboard the Xilian mothership. He watched as Gigan leveled what was rest of Tokyo.

"By order of your new Keizer," he announced to the monster containment ward aboard the mothership, "release all the monsters. Send them where they were before."

With that command, the containment operators carried out the orders. The monsters had been stored in cages that utilized compressed space. Each one was contained in a portable silver cube about five feet on each side. The cubes were transported through the mothership and distributed into the three sub-ships.

Once loaded, the sub-ships detached from the main ship and scattered to deliver their monstrous payloads.

The main ship began making its way towards the coast of Tokyo.

The new Keizer observed the radar presented before him along with live feed video of Gigan. Nearly countless tanks, planes, and battleships converged on the Xilians' monster. It appeared that the entire JSDF's military was converging. The new Keizer had also received word that Russia, South Korea, and China was also sensing military help to Tokyo.

"If only you could see this now, old Keizer," the new keizer spoke to himself, "You would see the army they had hiding just waiting to strike. They are violent and deceptive animals who know only war and must be trampled. If you saw this now, you would see what I see. You would see what I've always seen. Foolish old man."

The new Keizer stood from his chair. The working crew around him looked surprised and frightened at their new keizer who was talking to himself.

He continued. "Come on! Show me what you got! Now's the time to bring out the big guns! This is your FINAL WAR!!"

Then a loud roar came over the the speakers. The new keizer recognized it; it was Godzilla. His jaw dropped at the sound at first, but then it was replaced by a wide grin.

The new Keizer laughed aloud. "Yes! That's it! Now it's getting fun! Gigan! Finish this nuisance!"

On the screen before the new Keizer, Gigan screeched in acknowledgement.

Godzilla stomped his way into the city. Amidst Gigan's chaos, the JSDF hadn't noticed that he had made landfall until he was well into the city.

Godzilla had expected more retaliation from the humans. He figured that the other monster was getting all the attention.

It was Mothra who told him to come the this city again. She told him that the invaders would be here. She told him this was where he could have his revenge.

He hadn't been here in a long time and it looked very different from before. But any city looks the same after he's through with it.

Ready for a fight, he roared to announce his presence.

Vincent and Taylor gazed up as Godzilla's head appeared from behind a building. His head turned to look down the street they were on.

They wondered if he was going to come towards them. If he was, it would be hard to get out of the way while the street so crowded.

But then things got a lot worse.

Their other nightmare had caught up with them. Gigan's screech pierced the cloud of dust and debris a few blocks down the street. From the dust and smoke, he emerged. First the light of his glowing red eye broke through, then his great scythes.

Gigan, in all his deadly glory, stood before Godzilla. He screeched again as if to summon Godzilla to a duel.

Godzilla cried back, ready.

And Vincent, Taylor, and a few hundred other people were caught in the middle. Everyone was screaming and panicking.

"Get in the alley and don't stop running," Vincent told Taylor who was fixated on Godzilla. "Everyone will be running. Whatever you do, don't fall. Don't look back. I'll be right behind you. Go now!"

Taylor tore her attention away from the monster that killed her parents. She pushed through the people and made her way to the alley way.

Godzilla roared, swung his body around the corner, and charged at Gigan. Gigan charged too, scythes raised.

Most people attempted to scurry out of the way. Many made it into the alley ways to the sides. Others were frozen solid.

Taylor had a head start. She had made it into an alley. People were pushing and shoving past her. She felt her brothers hand on her shoulder.

Godzilla clashed with Gigan. Gigan's scythes came down, but Godzilla managed to bat them away, avoiding the blades.

Gigan's blades plunged into the buildings to the sides. Ruble rained down. For some, the alleyways were a death trap.

Taylor ran faster as the alley way began to cave in.

"Go, Taylor!" Vincent shouted. Then his hand left Taylor's shoulder.

Sobbing uncontrollably, Taylor barged through the crowd as she heard the world crumble just behind her. She didn't look back and she didn't slow down just as her brother had told her. Surrounded by other scared and frantic people, she was alone.

Gigan screeched in Godzilla's face.

Godzilla retorted with a tackle, which forced Gigan back. Using his tail to gain balance, Gigan held his ground again.

Godzilla had underestimated his foe. Close combat with Gigan was just as dangerous as it looked. Godzilla realized this when the buzzsaw on Gigan's front began to spin.

Gigan thrust himself forward bearing his spinning buzzsaw. Godzilla reared back, avoiding it. Gigan thrust again, but Godzilla held his shoulders and held him back.

Gigan used the sides of his scythes to break Godzilla's hold. Godzilla was open. Gigan prepared to leap forward once again and tear his opponent apart, but Godzilla had a quick defence.

Before Gigan could attack, Godzilla quickly charged his dorsals and spewed out an atomic blast.

Gigan's guard was completely down. The bright blue stream of atomic energy hit him in the chest and forced him back; tumbling and plowing through city blocks. He vanished in the cloud of dust he had kicked up.

Godzilla stood motionless in anticipation as his dorsals cooled down.

The new Keizer watched with his nose nearly touching the screen. He leaned back in his chair.

"Woh. This Godzilla fella is one tough dude," he said to himself. "Gigan might need a little back up on this one."

He snapped his fingers getting his crew's attention.

"Signal for X," he ordered.

From the dust cloud, Gigan's red laser shot out at Godzilla. The beam split apart into many beams in front of Godzilla and those beams exploded once they had surrounded him. The cluster laser scorched his flesh leaving black burns. He let out a high pitched screech of pain.

As Godzilla was stunned, Gigan leapt up out of the dust and rose high in the air. He arched and descended down towards Godzilla. He raised his scythe and readied it to cut right through his opponent.

Godzilla's eye caught his falling enemy. Quickly regaining his stance, he spun himself around.

Gigan was about to deliver his lethal blow when he himself was the one to suffer a blow. Godzilla's tail came in from the side and with rib crushing force swatted him down. He demolished several city blocks before finally coming to a still. It was a mighty blow. Gigan could not get up immediately. His side was in agony.

Godzilla huffed as he watched for movement from his downed opponent.

An Xilian boy walked hastily through the hallway of the mothership. It was a perimeter hallway with a long window stretching down it. Through the window, the boy saw that the massive ship was approaching a great city on the coast. There was a lot of dust and smoke rising from the city. He was looking at Tokyo, but he wouldn't know that. It was planned that an Xilian city would stand there in time.

"There you are!" an Xilian woman shouted. She ran to the boy. The boy ran to her and they embraced.

"I got lost!" the boy told his mother as he dug his face into her chest.

"We can't be here. It's too dangerous by the windows. Let's go. I'll be…" she stopped.

The boy was not looking. His face was buried in his mother's shoulder.

The mother, however, stepped back against the wall. She held her breath in terror.

Passing by the window, flying, was the boney white armor of Monster X. He was right on eye level with the window. As he passed, the mother saw his glowing red eye stare at her despite it having no pupil.

She collapsed against the wall holding her child in her arms, too scared to move.

Monster X flew by the mothership's silver surface.

He saw the city ahead and saw that he had already missed some of the action.

Passing the mothership, his bony plates almost glowed in the sunlight. He lowered himself closer to the surface of the ocean and dipped his fingers in, splitting the water as he went.

Then he clenched his fists. Exerting tremendous force, he launched forward towards Tokyo. Being so low to the surface, the gravity field around him created a massive wake.

I'm just a few moments, Monster X was in Tokyo. Upon reaching the coast, he rose up high to look down on the battlefield.

A large portion of the city had been thoroughly leveled. Off to the side he saw Gigan struggling to get up. But Godzilla was nowhere to be seen.

Monster X lowered to the ground, gently planting his feet. Getting a closer look at the trail of destruction, he tried to see where Godzilla may have went. He looked around himself then sniffed the air.

When he sniffed, he picked up something very familiar. The last time Godzilla used his atomic blast, his dorsal spines had a very peculiar smell. It was like burning bone and ozone. Godzilla was still nearby.

Monster X couscously walked about as he made his way closer to Gigan.

"You look to be in need of help, Gaigan," Monster X remarked as he continued to look around.

"He got lucky! You're not needed here," Gigan spit back as he finally got to his feet.

"There's something different about this kaiju," Monster X remarked as he continued to look around. "The moth puts some amount of faith in him."

"You often seem to be worried about this old moth even though you speak so low of her. If you're scared, I can easily take care of it for you."

Monster X turned back at Gigan and roared. As he did, he saw Gigan's head turned sharply. In Gigan's eye, he saw the reflection of something bright and blue.

He didn't even have time to turn to see it as a blast of blue radiation struck him in the side. He was forced to the ground and pushed severely blocks, making the arena a bit bigger.

Monster X's armor was incredibly hard, but did not cover his entire body. Some black skin, tough but still vulnerable, was exposed.

Holding his scorched and smoking side, Monster X rose up. He looked around again, but saw no adversary. There was too much smoke all around.

"Where did he go?!" Monster X shouted at Gigan.

"I'll find him," Gigan hissed. Behind his visor, he switched his standard light vision to infrared. Scanning the red and white vista, he saw no monster other than his reluctant ally.

After a moment, Monster X got impatient. "I should have left you in the ground, you useless scrap job."

Gigan ignored the insult. Then he picked up something. It looked like the tip of a tail. And the thing it belonged to stood behind a tall building Monster X was adjacent to.

Gigan pointed his scythe in the direction. "There," he said flatly.

Monster X's eyes widened. He spun around just in time to see the skyscraper beside his shake. Bursting through from the other side was Godzilla roaring loudly.

The skyscraper crumbled in a shower of glass and dust.

Godzilla tackled Monster X to the ground. He pinned his arms down. All Monster X could do was flail his legs and tail.

"You look to be in need of help." Gigan parrated as he looked at his helpless ally.

"Shoot him!" Monster X replied.

Godzilla's dorsal spines illuminated. Monster X could see the raging blue light growing in Godzilla's mouth. Frantically breaking one arm free, Monster X grabbed Godzilla's lower chin. Blue flames licked Godzilla's gnarling teeth.

Gigan's eye was charging up for a powerful beam attack.

Godzilla unleashed his radioactive fury, but Monster X managed to force his head away missing the blast. Godzilla's blast instead was redirected towards Gigan.

The stream of blue energy collided with Gigan, forcing him back and knocking him down again. He has already charged his laser. It shot out of his eye and up into the sky. The cluster laser burst in the clouds.

Monster X pushed Godzilla off of him and quickly got up. While Godzilla was getting up, Monster X took the chance and kicked him back down. Godzilla tried getting up again, but was forced down by another kick.

Monster X placed a foot firmly down on his opponent. He roared down at him. Then his eyes, the pair on his face along with the ones on the half-heads on his shoulders, turned from a crimson red to a deep yellow. His upper body crackled with energy.

Godzilla noticed bits of debris flow to up towards Monster X; gravitating towards him. Then Monster X unleashed his power. Spewing from his eyes and mouth were yellow swirling beams of jolting energy. The beams hit Godzilla and twisted around him. They felt like electricity surging through every muscle.

Then Godzilla felt an odd feeling of falling. For him, the world had been turned sideways and he was falling as he was being dragged across the rubble ridden ground. He stopped when he fell sideways into a tall building. Destroying the base, the whole structure came crumbling down on top of him.

Monster X breathed heavily as his eyes turned back to red. The battlefield was silent again.

Gigan rose again. He was exhausted. His front was singed.

The rubble from the fallen building shook and shifted.

Monster X and Gigan watched intently.

A heaping mess of building chunks rose up. The debris fell off to reveal a tired and beaten Godzilla. He had a dazed look in his eye.

Monster X crouched, then leapt forward; flying at Godzilla. Godzilla only stood in place; arms limp.

Gigan took flight.

Monster X swiped at Godzilla, claws bared, slashing across his chest.

Godzilla stumbled, still unable to fight back. He struggled to stand.

Monster X closed his fist and delivered a fierce uppercut to Godzilla's chin. Godzilla was forced to lean back from the blow. Just as he was, Gigan flew up from behind and bashed the back of his head with the blunt sides of his scythes. Godzilla lurched forward from that blow. And as he was bent forward, Monster X landed a brutal punch to his abdomen.

Monster X grabbed Godzilla by the neck and pulled him up. He snarled at his weakened opponent. Then he lifted him up off the ground by the neck just as he did in their last fight. Godzilla feedly grabbed at Monster X's arm. He choked as he looked up at the sky. Everything seemed to get darker.

But it was not just Godzilla's vision that was dimming. Something was darkening the sky. It was a shadow; a massive shadow cloaking half the city.

The mothership came into Godzilla's field of view. Clouds parted as it lumbered through the sky.

Godzilla let out a weak groan.

Gigan stood off to the side and watched as Godzilla slowly suffocated.

Monster X glared up at Godzilla and said "She sent you, didn't she? Where is she? Where is the moth?!"

Taylor Martin wandered through the dust and debris that was once part of Tokyo. She was completely covered in dust and smoke and had a small head wound. A bit of blood ran down her face. She was in shock.

She was looking for her brother. She kept saying his name. Before, she was shouting it over and over. Now, she whispered it. Her throat was sore from the yelling and the dust in the air.

Having wandered onto some kind of an incline, what once was the side of a building, she was able to get a decent view around her.

Everything was flattened in a miles wide radius around the monsters. Monster X held a weakly flailing Godzilla by the neck as Gigan watched. And the sky had been replaced with the shiny metal of the Xilian mothership.

She looked at Godzilla and encountered confusion within herself. She had thought seeing the monster that killed her parents along with so many other loved ones would bring her some joy or relief. But seeing that monster die at the hands of something far worse only drained her of hope. Perhaps, she thought, that Godzilla was merely an animal who found himself in a world in which he did not fit. These other monsters, though, seemed to have a nefarious purpose behind their actions.

Taylor's heart sank for Godzilla.

Then a powerful wind picked up. When it got too powerful to be any regular gust, and when the humming of huge engines was heard, Taylor turned around and looked up. She fell back with eyes wide open in amazement.

Gigan watched on as Monster X strangled Godzilla.

He was actually jealous. Partly because he wanted to finish off Godzilla by himself, partly because of the fact that Monster X had hands. Being a cyborg designed to kill and do little else, it wasn't always a concern of his.

But something else was odd about his jealousy. It wasn't entirely a longing for hands. He couldn't pinpoint it in the dense clouds of his blurred memories. The only thing he could pluck from his organic brain was a primitive concept of grasping something.

Before Gigan could ponder the thought any longer, he spotted something to his right in the corner of his vision. It was tiny and flying upwards. He turned to see a human in some sort of armor wielding a large gun (for a human).

It was Philippe Roaché of G-Force. He was in his gravity armor and had his maser gun ready. He fired the stream of bright blue plasma.

The burning bolt from the the maser struck Gigan's eye. Resembling jagged roots of a tree, the bolts shot through his crystal-like eye. The blue lightning cracked through the red glass. It shot through to the back of his eye where it hit his organic scull. There it stopped. Gigan reared back in screeching pain as he raised his scythe to cover is eye. He flailed his other scythe about wildly as he stumbled back.

Monster X turned his head as he continued to hold up the barely moving Godzilla. He had not seen what had happened, but had a feeling a sneak attack was imminent. He was right. An intense heat struck him in the back. It was a maser cannon; a big one. He could feel his bony armor burn and crack. He howled out loud and released his grip on Godzilla who fell limp to the ground, eyes slightly open.

Monster X's pain was not over. The fire of the maser cannon ceased, but only a second before what felt like a massive drill plowed into the spot the maser had stuck. He stumbled forward as the massive drill refused to let up. He finally got the idea to use his tail and did it. His heavy forked tail slammed against the large metallic thing behind him. That made it back off.

Finally able to, Monster X turned around to see his new assailant. It was not the drill wielding ship he had seen before. He was looking at the Gotengo I; the original war machine that had put down Godzilla years prior. It bared a strong resemblance to its successor, but looked more like a submarine. The underside was a bright red and the top side was a metallic grey.

Captaining the warship was Takaki Aso. Crewmen scrambled to make sure everything was still operational.

"Everything still operational, Admiral!" reported Douglas Gordon.

Aso nodded. "Fire the full metal missiles!" he ordered.

Six hatches on the top of the Gotengo I opened up as smoke and steam poured out of them. In quick succession, the missiles flew out of their silos and up into the air.

Monster X roared in rage.

Gigan, half blinded, was attempting to fend off Philippe who was now accompanied by Glenn.

Monster X charged the Gotengo I, but he is stopped after only one step. The full metal missiles came down on him like a hellish rain. The pointed missiles struck his armor and took large chips away just before exploding. All six struck their target. Monster X was left kneeling in pain, immobile.

The new Keizer smirked and chuckled. "What a fun toy. Let me show you mine."

Turning towards his crewmen, he ordered "Launch all drones. Have several focus on the enemy ship. All the rest will work on devoiding the city of its inhabitants."

"Yes, my Keizer," a crewman obeyed and hurried off.

"And instruct the cannons to commence attacks on the city as well. I want it all flattened by the end of the day!"

Shortly after the new Keizer's command, the great sliding bay doors opened on the top and bottom of the ship. As they were opening, the drone fighters flew out like dense swarms of crazed bees out of the two openings.

Each about the size of a bus, the drone fighters were pilot-less and resembled a curved beak of a bird. They were silver with sort of constellation designs like the mothership.

As the drone fighters swarmed out of the mothership, large guns protruded from the mothership as well. There were alot, all aiming down at the city.

Admiral Aso looked at his radar as well as the video feeds. He looked frightened. His forehead became beaded with sweat.

His crew looked to him, awaiting orders.

"This ship's already dealt with one monster. She'll take down another! One less monster means countless more lives saved! We've weakened the bastard! Let's finish him!" Aso told his men, filling them with whatever moral was left.

"You heard the boss! Let's move!" Gordon motivated.

The Gotengo I's drill revved up again.

Monster X stood back up and roared.

The Gotengo launched forward. Its drill was screaming.

Just before the two collided, Monster X grabbed the Gotengo behind its drill, holding it back. They struggled to over power the other. The Gotengo's exhaust vent grew red hot as as its engine struggled. Monster X's muscles weakened as the drill grew slightly closer and closer, chipping away bits of his armor.

Monster X's eyes widened as he noticed the many guns on top of the ship turning towards him. Then they all fired into his face. They were primitive cannons, but they were enough to cause Monster X to lose his hold of the ship. He stumbled back as the drill bored into him. He roared out in pain.

Then the swarm of drones approached the battlefield. They began firing on the Gotengo. Their laser attacks were small and weak compared to the firepower of the Gotengo, but many at once could take down any ship.

The mothership began firing its cannons down on the city. Glowing with a blinding teal, the guns charged up and releases their power. Magnificent beams of light rained down from the heavens; tearing through clouds. The beams collided with the biggest buildings first. The targets shattered upon impact and crumbled. Thousands of people screamed as the sky fell and their world collapsed before them.

Taylor watched on as the apocalypse unfolded before her. The Gotengo I was being attacked by the thousands of drones while it struggled with Monster X. Gigan, now able to some what see, was taking swings at the two remaining G-Force agents able to fight. And Godzilla laid motionless on the ground. The sky encompassing mothership was firing death from above, systematically leveling leveling the city.

It was all almost too much to take in for her. She could barely comprehend the scene before her. But at the same time, the scene seemed strangely familiar. The scorched buildings and the dark sky looked exactly like the strange vision she had had just without the huge ominous red eyed form looming above. But those same nightmarish red eyes seemed to belong to Monster X.

Then off to her side, the east, the sun caught her attention. Normally she would not pay much mind to a sunset, but the thought of her world becoming even darker terrified her to the point of trembling.

Lower and lower the sun sank, shining upon the underbellies of clouds as it kissed the horizon.

A sparkling tear cascaded down Taylor's cheek as she reached out towards the falling light.

Trying desperately in vein to grab it, to just keep it a bit longer, Taylor whimpered "No… no." With her shaking hand still outstretched, the sun had melted beneath the horizon of a burning world.

And then it was dark for Taylor along with the rest of humanity. It was as if all hope had faded with the daylight.

The Gotengo I was still unloading its entire payload onto Monster X, just barely staving him off. But the assault of the drone fighters were becoming too great to ignore. Hundreds of little purple lasers struck the ship. Some breached the hull and hit either crewmen or vital parts. The ship struggled to maintain stability and the lights flickered.

One the the large cannons, just cooling off from firing, pivoted and locked onto the Gotengo. Glowing with a bright blue light again, it fired its building leveling beam.

"Oh god!" a crewman at the radar announced.

"What is it?!" Gordon demanded.

The crewman only breathed heavily and grabbed is hair in frustration. He saw their approaching doom and new nothing could be done.

"Damn it, man, speak!" Aso ordered.

He turned to the admiral with wide eyes and said "Incoming…"

Aso could tell what the radar crewman knew. He looked to Gordon. The deep look they shared was one of finality. It was a look given when saying goodbye to a good friend.

The great beam of light, wider than the ship, collided with the Gotengo. With immense heat, it tore through the back section, primarily the engines. The back end sank a bit from the force. Then there was a huge fireball. Bright hot flames engulfed the whole back half of the ship.

Monster X roared at his enemy as he watched it rear off to the side on its way to a crash landing.

Of all places to crash, the ships collision course just happened to be right were Taylor was standing.

Taylor was as scared as anyone in her very unfortunate situation would be. At first she was not completely sure if the ship was headed for her. When she became more and more sure that it was, she ran faster and faster out of the way.

Plowing through the top part of building like it was nothing, the once great airship crashed to the ground and continued plowing through anything else in its way.

Taylor, running like hell, could feel the accompanied gust from behind as the Gotengo past over her head. She was once again engulfed in dust. Then she heard the airship crash in the street. The chaotic sounds of the crashing airship ceased.

When the dust settled, Taylor looked up at the great ship before her. The worst part about it was that her path to Gotengo Base was now blocked by the original Gotengo. Taylor took note of the irony and began making her way around the ship.

"Glenn!" Philippe came in over Glenn's com unit. "Gotengo one is down."

Glenn looked over and saw the pillar of smoke and the top of the ship over the buildings.

"Dammit," Glenn said to himself. "Swiss army dick can wait. Let's start a search for survivors and get them out of here."

The voice of Mothra once again sang inside Godzilla's head.

"Gojira…" Mothra's voice spoke to him. "Gojira, please get up."

Godzilla was tired. Everything hurt. All his energy was being used to just continue breathing.

"You can't fall! You mustn't! Not now!" She sounded like it was beginning to sob.

Godzilla wanted her to go away. He did not care anymore. He had no reason to continue fighting.

"They have my children. They're using them to destroy the world. They're perverting their minds!"

The children of others were not any of his concern. He just wanted to rest.

"How can you be so heartless? You are this planet's last hope!"

He owed either the planet or its people nothing.

"Gojira… I understand. All you cared about was your son. If I lost my kaiju, I wouldn't care about much else either. I'm old and hardly able to fight, but you are right where you need to be. The beast that killed your son stands before you weakened and vulnerable. If you can't find the strength to at least grasp at vengeance, then I would have to question how much you even cared for your son."

That was what struck a nerve with Godzilla.

Monster X was looking over at the fallen Gotengo I. He was thinking of helping destroy the remains of the city to treat himself. Then he noticed an odd blue light behind him. It was not from one of the cannons. Then he had realized what he had left there.

He turned around to see Godzilla standing, his dorsals blinding with power and a raging fire in his eyes. Then his dorsals dimmed as the energy seemed to fill him with new life.

Monster X stood tall and steady, waiting for his risen opponent's move. For a long minute, the two did nothing but glare. It was a standoff. Clawed fingers twitched, itching to strike.

Gigan, realizing he was no longer being shot at with masers, lowered his scythe from his face. Looking around, getting himself calibrated, he was surprised to see the blurry and cracked shape of Godzilla standing. He could tell Godzilla had his back to him. It was time to get back in the fight and strike.

Gigan readied his scythes and broke into a sprint. His blades shimmered in the red flames around him as well as blue as the mothership shot off rounds from its great cannons. His deadly forked tail slashed back and forth behind him as he ran. His shattered red eye glimmered, slowly healing and honing in on the target.

With a twist of his hips, Godzilla brought his tail up and whipped it into Gigan's head. It sent him crashing to the ground and leaving his out cold. Godzilla had not broken eye contact with Monster X.

Taking in a deep breath, Godzilla then unleashed a trembling roar at his enemy.

Monster X was slightly put off. He felt the roar rattle his guts. This monster he was dealing with was no mere animal to be easily disposed of. He had cursed his foolishness for underestimating Mothra's recruit.

Godzilla charged.

Monster X braced.

They clashed in a mess of tooth and nail.

Taylor had made her way around the Gotengo I. She looked up at it imagining all the people that must still be in it. She wondered how many were dead.

She remembered some kids she knew in school who were in a car accident. Three of the four friends died. She wondered how an airship compared to a car when it crashes and how likely it is to survive.

Her question was answered shortly after pondering it. She saw two people climb out of a gash in the bottom of the ship. One was holding up the other. She rushed over to see if they needed help.

"Are you guys alright?" she asked.

The younger, bigger man laid down the older man he was carrying against a car. She was surprised to see that the old man was Admiral Aso. The younger man turned around. It was Gordon.

Taylor ran up and embraced Gordon. He hugged back.

"Tay, where's Vince?" Gordon asked.

"We were at the stadium. Gigan came. We… got seperated. The alley caved in behind me and…" she began to weep in Gordon's arms.

"Hey, hey. I'll alright now. You're safe and Vince is probably lost somewhere. I ever tell you how he ended up in a broom closet back at G-Base?" Gordon chuckled, trying to cheer up Taylor.

Taylor knew this. And it was what she needed. She didn't think she could face the possibility of losing the last of her family. She just wanted to focus of the task at hand of getting to the Gotengo Base. And a laugh with Gordon sounded good.

"Stop trying to change the subject," she laughed while wiping the tears. "You almost hit me, you jerk!"

The moment of levity was cut off by Godzilla's roar and the sound of one of the colossal creatures being thrown to the ground.

"Godzilla's up? I thought that other monster had killed him," Taylor said.

"It looks like the big fella is buying us some time," Gordon said. "We'll head out as soon as the Admiral recouperates."

"Gordon," the tired Aso whispered up.

"Yes sir?"

"You should take the girl and get a head start. No sense in dragging along an old admiral with no ship."

Gordon looked conflicted. He didn't want to leave his admiral, his old captain, behind. But he didn't want to disobey an order either.

Taylor knew Gordon looked up to the admir. She could tell it would kill him to just leave him.

She spoke up. "Can I have a minute to rest. I just need a minute. I haven't stopped since the stadium. And maybe the captain will feel better then."

"Alright, Tay. Good idea," Gordon said.

Godzilla sunk his teeth into the hard armor of Monster X's arm. He began thrashing violently.

Monster X batted at Godzilla with his claws, but the monster had a firm grasp. Animalistically, he grabbed the top of Godzilla's head, clawed down his face, and let loose a saliva spitting roar as he did it.

That finally made Godzilla let go. He held his face as he backed off.

Monster X took the opening and lunged forward for a tackle. His shoulder collided with Godzilla's chest. This pushed Godzilla back even further. Then he began punching Godzilla's side.

It was futile to try and claw at Monster X's thick shoulders and back armor, so Godzilla's arms were useless. It felt like his ribs were going to break with another punch or two. Godzilla knew that Monster X's belly was mostly exposed, so he picked up his leg and kicked. His clawed toes dug into his opponents gut.

Monster X cried out in pain and was forced to let go. He grabbed Godzilla's leg, removed the craws from his gut, and tossed the leg up, Godzilla with it.

Godzilla flew back and landed on his side. The wind had been knocked out of him. He managed to inhale and look up just in time to see Monster X jumping down on him feet first. He landed on Godzilla's side. It was like Monster X really had his dark heart set on Godzilla's ribs. Godzilla felt one crack. He cried out in horrific agony. Monster X dug his own clawed feet into Godzilla, increasing the pain.

Godzilla turned. Monster X lost his balance and jumped off. As Godzilla got to his feet, his dorsal spines illuminated. Monster X saw this and charged his own attack.

Godzilla spun around and fired his atomic blast. At the same time, Monster X had fired his gravity bolts. The two attacks clashed in a blinding explosion of incredible energy. The explosion engulfed the two in waves of flame and energy bolts followed by a shock wave.

The shock wave tore through the remnants of the city. Any remaining windows were blown out. Some buildings even lurched a bit.

A building by the crashed Gotengo I took the shock wave. Its windows shattered and its support beams shook.

Glass showered down on Taylor, Gordon, and Aso. Taylor covered her face and Gordon stood over her. Aso winced, too weak to move.

A large triangular piece of glass, falling at terminal velocity, sliced down Gordon's bicep. Another smaller shard struck him in the back and sunk deep. While Taylor's face went unharmed, her hand received a long, nasty cut. Aso got cut on the cheek.

Then the shattering stopped.

Taylor uncovered her face. She looked at her hand. A long trail of blood ran down her forearm.

Gordon erected himself, then shouted in pain as he felt the the piece of glass in his back.

"Oh my god! What's wrong?!" Taylor asked.

"Got stuck in the back." Gordon turned around.

Tyler gasped when she saw the shard in his back. There was a lot of blood.

"Think you can get it out, Tay?"

"What?! I've never done anything like that before!"

"It's easy, kid, just yank it out. Yukie can take care of the rest when we get back to base."

Cringing her teeth, Taylor gently grabbed the bloody piece of glass with both hands.

"Okay," Taylor said preparing herself. "On three. One…"

Taylor pulled hard and the piece of glass came out. Gordon yelled in pain and was crying. Taylor dropped the glass and wiped her hands on her shirt.

Gordon then carefully removed his shirt, tore it, and wrapped it tightly around his torso where the wound was.

Taylor slumped to the ground, tired and barely able to hold herself up. She had been running all day and was only becoming more exhausted. Listening through the cold wind that blew her hair, off in the distance, she heard the sounds of chaos as the mothership continued its assault on the city. She heard the sounds of two monsters fighting as well. Godzilla and Monster X were up and back at it.

"I thought Godzilla was done for," Taylor said.

Aso chuckled. "You know, I never really believed he could be killed. His immortality is our curse as well as his."

"You've always felt that way?" Gordon asked. "Why even pilot either of the Gotengos then?"

Aso took a minute to think and catch his weakening breath. "Maybe I… just want to let him rest… or send him home."

Aso smiled. He thought he might simply be projecting his own desires onto his long time adversary.

Taylor looked out at the barren and half destroyed city around her. She wondered how many people were dead and how many will die before this was over. Then she thought of something even more dismal.

"This is the end, isn't it." Taylor said as she choked a little. She couldn't help but start to sob. "This is the end of the world. We lost… We never stood a chance, did we."

Taylor shivered in the wind. Aso noticed.

"Gordon, can you help me take my coat off and give it to the girl?"

Gordon did so. He carefully did nearly all the work in removing it from Aso. The old man could barely move. He then places the heavy duster over Taylor's shoulders.

"Miss Martin," Aso said softly, "in my years of wars and leading men in those wars, I've learned that even in the most dire and hopeless of situations, people will somehow always fight back. These aliens, I'm sure that have powerful weapons and far more advanced technology. But I'm also sure that they will find humans as irritating as I often do." Aso smiled and chuckled as much as he was able to. "Don't you give up. And don't ever lose hope. Consider it an old man's last wish."

Taylor's and Gordon's hearts were struck by what Aso had just said. Gordon struggled to remain stoic and strong for his admiral. Taylor squeezed the duster wrapped around her and was sobbing more now. Her tears fell onto the brown coat and sank in.

"If you promise to keep hope alive, then I'll promise you that dawn will come…" Aso concluded.

He fell silent. He closed his eyes and lowered his head as if dozing off for a nap. His chest fell and did not rise back up. His hand fell off to the side of the lap it was rested on.

Gordon's face remained stoic, but tears ran down his face. Taylor was crying loudly, her face buried in her palms.

Their mourning was not to be permitted to go on very long. The ground quaked. It sounded like many footsteps we're stumbling their way, big footsteps. It felt like an earthquake ripping through the city straight towards them.

From behind a building, Godzilla's jagged dorsal spine appeared. Godzilla was being pushed back. His dorsals plunged into another building.

The building shook and shifted. It was coming down. Dust and smoke trailed off of it as it tumbled. And Taylor and Gordon were in its path.

They ran. Gordon held Taylor by the hand. Taylor ran clumsily as her strength was spent. They ran away, but saw the towers shadow grow longer and longer. Gordon looked back. He knew they weren't going to outrun it. Just off to the side of the street, he saw their only visible hope. It was a tank, apparently abandoned with his hatch open.

"Get in the tank! Hurry!" Gordon shouted.

Gordon grabbed Taylor by the waist and lifted her up onto the tank.

Feebly, she crawled up the tank and made her way into the hatch opening. She looked up through the opening to see the building about to fall on them. She didn't see Gordon.

"Gordon…" she whispered.

Then the whole world came crashing down on her. The crash was deafening. Everything went dark.

An unknown time later, maybe minutes, maybe hours, Taylor began to come back to consciousness. It was so dark, she wasn't completely sure if she could still see. She stayed in a dazed, half awake state for what seemed like a long while.

Then, not unlike how she reacted some mornings before school when her alarm failed to go off, she shot up realizing her situation.

She felt around in the darkness. She remembered she had gotten in the tank. Reaching up to the hatch she discovered that it was not sealed up as she had feared for a second. She climbed up and out. There was a lot of concrete and rubble. And the air was still and thick with dust.

While climbing she stumbled a few times and even fell down. She thought about her situation. She was trapped under a building. There was no light and no breeze, so she figured there was no apparent way out. After falling yet again, she did not get up. She laid down and got into a fetal position.

She then remembered Gordon. She didn't want to think about that. But that seemed like the worst part of it all. She now had no one. Everyone she cared about were gone now. The same went for many people all over the planet. No one was coming for her.

She shivered. That made her remember the duster Aso had given her. She tried to remember where it was. It was still in the tank, she remembered. After an undetermined amount of time, she finally sat up and made her way back into the tank. She felt around and grabbed the coat. Covering herself in it, she warmed up.

She remembered the admiral. Trying to retrieve the memories from her jogged mind, his last words came to her on their own. "If you promise to keep hope alive, then I'll promise you that dawn will come…"

There was another quake. Maybe one of the monster fell again. Everything shifted and shook. Taylor feared this was the end for her. The building could come crumbling down onto her and finish the tank. But then the quake ceased and she was still there.

If she was still alive, she thought, then she could still hold onto hope. She was forced to keep her end of the promise she made with the last owner of the coat she wore.

She got up out of the tank and started making her way up again. Confident and determined, she carefully placed her feet and hands as she climbed. Beyond a lot of concrete and such, she found desks, chairs, and other pieces of furniture. She climbed up through doors.

And then she was filled with even more hope. She felt a cool breeze hit her face. That meant there was a way out. The last quake must have unblocked a passageway. With Aso's words pushing her on, she continued. Her hands and legs were scraped and cut. Her skin itched from the insulation tossed about. Through her struggle, she was rewarded. Climbing up through one more door, she had finally reached the up facing side of the building, and light. Along with moonlight, she also noticed faint flashes of blue and yellow.

She climbed up a fallen support beam. She got as high as she could, and was just out of reach of the open window. But she was not about to let that stop her after she had come this far. The window was not directly above her either. It was a little bit away from the top of the fallen beam. She thought about jumping. If she missed or couldn't pull herself up, the fall would be nasty. The room was long, maybe twenty five feet long, now twenty five feet high.

She got as close to the edge as she could and nervously prepared to jump. She counted down from three. Three, two...

Then the building shifted violently. Taylor lost her balance and was going over. There was nothing else to do but kick off as hard as she could and reach as far out as she could.

Mid air, it didn't look good. She was never very good at physical sports. She had tried running track in school, but quit after a week. She regretted it now.

But by the little knuckles of her fingers, she managed to grab the ledge. There she dangled. Lifting herself up was impossible. After all she had been through, she was just too weak. And she was slipping. She knew she was done for, but was having a hard time fully comprehending the gravity.

Then she slipped. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see it coming. There was a brief feeling of falling. Then she stopped. Something had her by the wrist; someone.

She opened her eyes and looked up. She couldn't believe it. For a second she thought it wasn't real. Maybe, she thought, her mind couldn't handle the thought of dying, so it made up this hallucination just before she landed and cracked her head open in reality.

But it was not a dream or vision. Her brother, Vincent, was holding onto her. She was speechless. All she could do was dangle with her jaw dropped.

"Gordon! Give me a hand over here!" Vincent shouted.

Still dumbfounded, Taylor watched Gordon come into view and help Vincent pull her up out of the fallen building and into the light.

Once out, Vincent embraced her tightly. She didn't have the strength to hug back.

"I thought… I thought you both were dead," Taylor said.

"I just got cut off from you when the alley caved in," Vincent told her.

"And I didn't think I had time to hop in and join you, so I got underneath the tank," Gordon explained. Managed to crawl through part of the building. That's when G-force helped dig me out. You can thank me later for bringing them to where I thought you might be."

"We've got a lot of other survivors. Gordon will carry you, don't worry. We're going back to the base now."

The three made their way back down to the street where they met with Glenn and Philippe. They led a large group of people back to G-force Base.

Godzilla's claw clung to Monster X's face and smashed it into a building. Monster X fell to the ground, dizzy from the blow.

Godzilla heard Gigan charging from behind. He turned around to face him as he slammed his tail down on Monster X who was trying to get up.

Godzilla grabbed the horn on Gigan's head and held him back.

Gigan flailed, trying to regain control of his head. He swung his scythes blindly. Finally, he landed a blow. The curved, pointed tip of his right scythe cut into Godzilla's arm.

Godzilla withdrew as he cried out in pain. He held his arm as blood poured out like a red river down a rocky mountain.

Not wasting the opening he thirsted for, Gigan swung his left scythe. It struck and cut into Godzilla's side.

Another cry of pain came from the monster.

Gigan got in another blow. This time he bashed Godzilla in the head with the dull side of his scythe.

Godzilla did not cry again. He was stunned, wobbling with a distant look in his eyes. He was defenceless.

Monster X shot up behind Godzilla and grabbed him by the arms, restraining him.

People were rushing through the huge doors of the G-Force Base main entrance. Vincent was guiding them in as he and Gordon kept order and help anyone who needed it. The last of the crowd they had gotten together were entering the base.

"That's everyone," Gordon said.

"We need to close these doors or they'll find us. We'll have to look for others when things calm down," Vincent replied. "If they calm down."

Everyone was in. Gordon and other men pulled the massive blast doors.

Vincent looked out at the ruined world one more time. Stomping into view came the three brawling monsters. He looked on in amazement and horror.

Monster X held Godzilla from behind as they both stumbled back. Gigan was beating at Godzilla with the blunt sides of his blades.

Godzilla looked worn and exhausted. His head was low and his arms were limp.

Vincent believed he was witnessing the end of the creature he had studied for so many years; a monster that the world had feared for so many more years. And he was only being replaced by demons far worse.

But then Vincent attained a glimmer of hope for the poor beast.

Godzilla's dorsal spines illuminated. It was one last effort to gain a foothold in this seemingly impossible battle. His head rose up and he snarled at Gigan as blue flames licked his teeth.

Monster X, from over Godzilla's shoulder, roared at Gigan.

Gigan got up close to Godzilla. As the blue flames built up in Godzilla's mouth, Gigan placed his scythe at Godzilla's neck. Gigan, right up in Godzilla's face, gave a hateful and menacing hiss.

Vincent's hope was dashed. This was the end he had feared.

Just as Godzilla was ready to release his atomic fury, Gigan quickly slid his blade across Godzilla's throat. A short burst of blue energy and fire emitted from the deep throat cut, but then it was snuffed. His dorsals dimmed. His eyes, first wide in shock, slowly closed.

Monster X let the creature fall to the ground. He placed his foot on the lifeless monster. He roared loudly into the heavens. Gigan joined in.

Vincent and everyone else felt the tragic victory roar in their chests. The hellish sound of defeat filled the new dead world.

Monster X roaring over the fallen Godzilla was the last thing Vincent saw before the doors closed shut.

It was the next morning. A dim grayness welcomed the ravaged world. The sun struggled to break through the smoke and ash that choked the sky. Thick black clouds loomed off in the distance over the sea.

The Xilian mothership was gone. It had traveled to the next major city.

Perched atop a skyscraper that didn't get annihilated, Monster X sat like a gargoyle looking over the ruined city.

He thought over things silently, repeating plans in his head and making sure everything was as it should be. It was. It wouldn't be long, he thought to himself. Perhaps a human would consider it a long time, but it was no time at all for a being as ancient as him.

The next thing on his agenda was the blasted moth. But he had time to play around on this planet for a little while. Then he'd be off.

He roared up into the gloomy sky. His cry filled the dead city.

The new Keizer was walking along the dreary beach by the city. The sand was powdered with ash and the washing tide was stained black. He turned to see Monster X as he roared into the sky.

He walked along the beach and marveled at his accomplishment. The mothership could completely level a city in a day. The only reason Tokyo still partly stood was because the island of Japan was not optimal for his new Xilian city. The city was dead, there was no need at this phase to waste time completely clear the land.

But the point the new Keizer was most happy with was that he had proven the old Keizer wrong. The Xilians, with their force, could easily take the Earth. No more Xilians would have to die on this planet.

He had done it. He had achieved his people's dream. The Xilians had their new home. Their children would not know the struggles and agonies of voyaging through space. They would be able to run and play under a beautiful blue sky.

There were many footprints all around from beach goers running in horror. They were all running inland.

The new Keizer came across a sand castle. Some human children would have been very proud of it before they were hurried away by their parents in the chaos.

The new Keizer only looked down on it with disdain. He hated these humans. He wanted every last one of them dead. He wanted them to only exist on history archives as the species who nearly destroyed the Xilians' last chance at salvation.

He lifted his foot over the sand castle and clenched his fists in anger. His teeth gnarled as he readied his wrath.

He stood there, with his foot up, for a short time. He was contemplating, but he didn't know why.

He placed his foot down behind him, sparing the castle. He had a conflicted expression. Then he walked the other way down the gloomy, empty beach leaving the lonely little sand castle behind. Wind whipped at his long black coat.

End Part I.


End file.
